The Legacy of Grayskull
by Philip S
Summary: In every generation there is a chosen one, an heir worthy of wielding the Sword of Grayskull and using its power to protect the world from the tainted legacy of the Evil Horde. In this generation her name is Buffy Anne Summers.
1. Prologue: Another Kind of Chosen

Another Kind of Chosen  
>By Philip S.<p>

Summary: There is no Slayer in this world. But there is a different kind of Chosen One to fight against the forces of darkness.

Rating: PG-13

"The world is older than any of you know. And contrary to popular belief, it did not start out as paradise. Demons ruled over the primordial Earth, made it their home, their hell. For untold generations they were the ultimate power and the early humans were but playthings to their whims.

"The demons called themselves the Horde. And their leader, the vilest and most powerful of them all, was Hordak, God-King of the Primordium.

"Thus it was until the day humanity rose up against their lords and masters. It was not the first such rebellion. All the others had failed and ended quickly and in untold bloodshed. Not this time, though.

"The leader of this uprising was a man called the Gray Skull, king of his tribe and most powerful warrior of his age. And Gray Skull had found a way to match the power of the Horde. Toiling in a dark cave, he had forged a mighty blade from the black ore found in his native mountains, and through means unknown to any but himself, he could use this blade to tap into the very power of the Earth itself.

"On the day Gray Skull raised his sword to the heavens and shouted his fierce battle cry, the time of the Horde ended. Hordak met Gray Skull in battle and their conflict laid waste to the land, but in the end the demon lord could not overcome the power and will of his foe. Hordak and the Horde were banished from the Earth, never to return. But Gray Skull paid a heavy price for his victory, for with his final blow Hordak wounded him mortally.

"As Gray Skull lay dying on the battle field, his comrades came to him to hear his final words. He warned them that, though banished, the evil of the Horde would endure on Earth. Certain of their magics remained, and their tainted blood had given rise to strange half-breed creatures that had multiplied and spread. In order to protect the world they had just liberated, a champion would be needed.

"Gray Skull gave his sword into the care of his comrades and told them that in each future generation there would be one worthy to wield it. And by invoking his name, they would be granted access to the power.

"And as he spoke, so it would be. Into every generation a champion is born. He or she alone will be worthy to wield the power of Grayskull and use it to fight against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. And to ensure that this world will forever more be safe from the tainted legacy of the Horde."

_From the Scrolls of the Council of Elders_

Present Day

Duncan Merrick was not a young man anymore, something he was all too aware of right now as he looked upon the very, very young people milling about before him. Ancients, had he ever been that young to begin with? He could not remember. He only knew that his shoulder ached from the heavy bag he was carrying and the back of his neck was sticky with sweet from the unforgiving Californian sun.

For what was probably the hundredth time he checked the name and address he had been given. It hadn't changed. The seers were certain, the Council was certain, so who was he to doubt them. Finally, after a long search, the Chosen One of this generation had been found. And it was his duty as this generations' Man-at-Arms to deliver the champion's weapon.

The bell rang and the students spilled out of the building in front of him. His eyes quickly focused on the person he had come to see. And he was in luck. After a brief chat she was left behind by her clique of friends and sat down on the stairs, apparently waiting for someone. He would not get a better opportunity.

"Excuse me," he approached her. "Miss Summers?"

The teenager looked up, popping her gum.

"Uh, yeah? Do I know you?"

God, she looked even younger up close. Way too much make-up, way too little clothes, and from what he had gleaned from looking at her files way more interested in trivial things than good grades. Could this really be the one? Well, there was really just one way to be absolutely certain.

"You do not know me, Miss Summers, and I am sorry for ambushing you in this way, but I need to deliver something to you."

He slung the heavy bag from his shoulder and put it down before him, unzipping it.

"Did I win something?" Summers asked, excitedly. Ancients, he hoped the girl had more sense than she appeared to have. She was way too trusting of strangers, too.

"In a way," he replied, taking the long case from the bag and holding it out before her. Her eyes narrowed a bit, confused by the case's obviously ancient design and make. He did not miss the brief tightening of her muscles as she considered moving away from him, but she stayed put. Her hand moved up, reaching out to touch the case, apparently without her being consciously aware she was doing so.

"What is that?" she whispered, fully focused on the case.

"Unless I am very much mistaken," he said, unfastening the latches, "it is your birthright, Miss Summers."

The case sprung open and the young girl's eyes widened.

Just a block or so away a dark figure looked up. Clouds were gathering in a sky that had been clear and blue just a second earlier. Ears that were far keener than any human being's clearly heard the words shouted by a very young voice.

"BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!"

A bolt of lightning arced down from the sky and hit in what he knew was the school yard of Hemery High. A ripple seemed to go through the very fabric of the world.

"I HAVE THE POWER!"

"It has begun," the dark figure whispered.

THE END (for now)

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer copyright Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Masters of the Universe belong to Mattel. No infringement intended.


	2. Welcome to Eternia Springs

**Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull**  
>Episode 1: Welcome to Eternia Springs<p>

Disclaimer: Buffy Summers and assorted characters are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe belong to Mattel. No copyright infringement is intended.

Note on the geography: The (fictional) town of Eternia Springs is located in California at the edge of the Sierra Nevada. I picked the (real) town of Woodlake on Google Maps for the general location. I have never been to California, the Sierra Nevada or any real or imagined town in that area, though, so I hope you can forgive me for any inaccuracies.

* * *

><p>Thunder flashes in the dark sky above her as she runs through the forbidding forest. Something is after her, she can feel it. She can hear the howling on the wind and knows that it's nothing as natural as mere wolves. Something evil, something tainted is after her and its footsteps are causing the Earth to shake in revulsion.<p>

The trees vanish as she reaches the edge of the forest and there is bare rock under her feet as she keeps running with desperation. She has no idea where she is, but she finds her path with unerring certainty even as her heart beats faster and faster in her chest. Something lies up ahead. Something terrifying. Something wonderful.

A bolt of lightning lights up her surroundings and she gasps as the cliff face in front of her is illuminated, the shadows playing across a giant skull carved into the rock, at least 15 meters tall. She has never been here before, she knows this, but still this place looks so utterly familiar. Almost like coming home.

Something roars behind her and she can almost feel its fetid breath on her neck. She runs again, straight toward the giant skull that, despite its fearsome appearance, seems to hold a promise of safety and power. A light emerges from the rocks, outlining the lower half of the carved skull and an opening appears, almost as if the mountain itself were opening its maw to answer her pursuer's roar. There is something inside, something that gleams in the light of the thunderstorm.

A fiery shape shoots out of the cavern, she can feel the beating of mighty wings, hear the sharp cry of the flying predator, and something is dropped into her outstretched hands even as she can feel the evil creature behind her reach out to snap her neck.

In her hand there is a sword and as she whirls around she raises it to the sky without conscious effort and her mouth opens to scream the words…

* * *

><p>With a start Buffy Summers came awake, drenched in sweat and panting as if she'd just run a marathon. There was no dark forest, no cliff face with a skull carved into it, no evil monsters and strange compulsions. Just her room in their new house and the light of an early morning streaming in through the half-closed shutters.<p>

"Just a dream," she muttered. "Just a dream."

Running her fingers through her sweat-soaked hair, her eyes trail across the room, strewn with half-unpacked boxes, and unto a box she has shoved into her walk-in closet when they first arrived. It's been sitting there ever since, half-buried under a mountain of clothing, untouched. But even now, from across the room, she can feel its presence in her head, a ghostly touch of metal on her fingers. And despite her waking mind's protest, she very well knows that this was not just a dream.

Half an hour later she was showered, dressed, and more or less ready to greet the world, bad dreams shoved to the back part of her mind for the time being.

"And we're finally unpacked!"

Buffy looked up upon hearing the jubilant statement from the far side of the house and suppressed a sigh. Yep, they were finally unpacked. Meaning they were now in permanent residence. This was their new home. Yippy! Three cheers for Eternia Springs, the jewel of Tulare County, California. Prettiest little town on State Route 245. Population size barely enough to fill your average-sized Los Angeles shopping mall. Their new home. How sweet.

Looking out the window of her room, she had to admit that the view was spectacular at least. The Sierra Nevada dominated the skyline, snow-covered peaks as far as the eye could see. No sign of the ocean, though, which struck her as inherently wrong, given that she had been born and lived all her life in Los Angeles within spitting range of the Pacific. Well, she would adapt. Eventually. Somehow. At least there was a lake nearby. Not really an adequate replacement for an ocean and its endless stretches of sunny beaches, but better than nothing.

The thought that the nearest barely adequate shopping mall was in Fresno was carefully repressed and shoved into the same dark corner of her mind where unwelcome dreams resided. They could keep each other company as she ignored them.

Leaving her room, she walked down the stairs into the living area of the house they'd bought. Her mother had apparently risen early and finally finished putting every last book into the large bookcase that dominated the south wall. She looked very much satisfied as she broke down the last moving box and put it aside.

"So did the big bad movers hurt any of your babies?" she asked teasingly, knowing her mother's mildly disturbing affection for her books.

"All safe, dry, and in their place," her mom replied, taking the teasing in stride. "The world has structure once more."

"All may breathe freely in relief," Buffy finished, shaking her head with a smile.

"Tease all you want, young lady. Doesn't change the fact that my books took up far less space in the moving van than your collection of clothing."

"You can get books everywhere, mom, but a proper outfit will be hard to find in Nowhereville, USA."

Apparently hearing the slight undertone of bitterness loud and clear, her mom turned toward her and gave her an encouraging smile.

"I know all this will require some getting used to, Buffy, but it's a fresh start for us. Look on the positive side."

Buffy nodded. She knew all that. A fresh start. Away from all the bad memories of Los Angeles. All the crap that had happened there ever since... well, ever since that day. The loss of the person she had once been, the disintegration of her family, … swallowing hard as she felt all the badness bubbling up again, she resolutely pushed the memories away and gave her mom an answering smile.

"You're right. Fresh start. New opportunities. I'll make the most of it, I promise."

Her mom had had it just as hard, she reminded herself, maybe harder. At least Buffy knew why all the badness had happened, even if that was hardly any consolation. As far as her mom was concerned, though, it had all come out of nowhere and had left her family shattered and in disarray. Small wonder she had wanted to get away from Los Angeles and all the memories. But did it really have to be this far away?

"I'm glad to hear that," her mom said. "Because in about 30 minutes you'll begin to attend Eternal Springs High School, young lady. So let's start breakfast because I expect you to be on time and on your best behavior."

"Joy," she muttered.

* * *

><p>Eternal Springs High School was a relatively small building, certainly no comparison to the much larger Hemery High in Los Angeles. Then again, you could easily have put every single student of ESHS into one of Hemery's auxiliary buildings and still have room to spare.<p>

"This will really take some getting used to," she told herself as she approached the building. Her mom had taken her here by car this morning, but in the future she'd probably just walk. Even at a leisurely stroll the school wasn't more than ten minutes away from their new house. Matter of fact about 80 percent of the town was easily within walking distance of their new house.

A flock of students had already gathered on the steps of the building and quite a few of them were looking at her. Given the size of the school – or its lack thereof, rather - it would easily be apparent to all of them that she was new here. No crowd to get lost in. Shaking her head, she straightened her spine and walked forward. She had ruled Hemery High like a queen and while she was a very different person now and probably couldn't have returned to her old ways if she tried, she still didn't intent to become a meek little wallflower that withered under any gaze coming her way.

Striding up the steps, she briefly registered a boy about her age on a skateboard. Or rather she registered the loud bang as he ran right into the guard rail, being too busy staring at her to watch where he was going.

Yep, she still had it.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes and a meeting with the school principal later her enthusiasm was firmly dampened once again. Mr. Fluty had been friendly enough to begin with and even torn up her permanent record... of course then he had read it and started taping it back together. Well, she doubted Eternal Springs High School had many students who had caused the gym of their former school to explode. Not that anyone had ever been able to prove that she'd had anything to do with the freak lightning strike that hadn't given a damn about the fully intact and functional lightning rod on the roof, but the school board hadn't cared.<p>

So while his ton had remained friendly, the words had been a pretty clear warning to her to keep her head down and behave. Well, she planned to do exactly that anyway. She had had enough excitement for several lifetimes these past two months, so she was very much looking forward to boredom and normalcy.

A treacherous voice in the back of her head whispered 'Fat Chance!', but she ignored it.

Hefting her backpack higher on her shoulder, she strode towards her assigned locker. She had about five minutes before her first class and really didn't intend to carry all her stuff with her all day. Seeing the appropriate row of lockers, she didn't notice the small group of girls turning the corner just ahead of her until they collided.

"Watch it, newbie," one of the girls yelled as she stumbled. Buffy caught herself, but her backpack slipped off her shoulder in the process.

"I didn't see you, sorry," Buffy just said. According to the style of dress and tone of voice, she figured she'd just run into the watered down version of her old Hemery-self. She knew how she would have reacted to almost being run over by a new girl first day of the semester. No sense getting into a chick fight right off the bat.

"You better be," the other girl sniffed before she and her posse moved on. Buffy sighed, reminding herself to keep the metaphorical claws retracted, and bent down to pick up her backpack. Which caused her to almost knock heads with a dark-haired boy who had had the same idea, it seemed.

"Sorry," he said, quickly taking a step back, "just wanted to help."

"Thank you, kind sir," she replied, giving him a smile. She wasn't sure, but that seemed to be the same boy she'd caused to run into the guard rail earlier. Hefting her backpack back onto her shoulder, she tried to figure out which of the lockers was hers.

"Can I have you? Eh… I mean… help you?" the boy asked.

Barely suppressing a laugh at his slip of tongue, Buffy showed him the small slip of paper that her locker number on it.

"That's the one," he pointed to one at the far end.

"Thank you, eh..."

"Xander! My name. Xander. Alexander, really, but no calls me that except my mom and... yeah, Xander. Just call me Xander. And... eh, you are…?"

"I'm Buffy, Xander. Thank you for the help."

"No problem. Always glad to help. If you need anything else, I'm here. Consider me at your service."

Quickly stashing her backpack in her locker and taking a notebook and pen from it, she hid her grin. Yep, she really still had it.

"I'll remember that, but I have to go find my first class now. Thank you, Xander. See you later."

As she walked away she didn't see the curious glance Xander was giving her and the locker where she had stashed her backpack. Just as she hadn't noticed that Xander had gotten a very brief glimpse of the backpack's rather unusual contents a minute earlier.

* * *

><p>Somewhere else…<p>

"Rqazz!"

The huge, hulking figure looked up from where it crouched, the almost completely stripped bones of its latest prey crunching underfoot as it rose. Its fur was matted with blood and it let out a huff, angry at the disturbance. A moment later, though, it saw the shadowy outline of the speaker against the mouth of the cave and quickly bowed its head, showing respect.

"Master," it growled, its giant fangs making its mouth unsuited for human speech at the best of times.

"It seems we have a new player in town, Rqazz! Someone dangerous. Someone... potentially useful."

The creature known as Rqazz rose to its feet, easily towering over the other figure despite its hunched posture.

"How can I serve?" it growled.

The dark figure chuckled, what little light streamed in from the cave mouth giving a bluish tint to its silhouette.

"Just do what you do best, my servant. Go into town tonight and... well, have a bit of fun!"

"As you command, master!"

The shadowy figure vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving no trace of its presence. The hulking brute returned to its interrupted meal. There were long hours of sunlight still ahead, but once night fell... well, it would do as it was bidden.

It would have a bit of fun.

* * *

><p>Buffy walked down the corridors of ES High, trying to find her way around. It was a much smaller school than Hemery, granted, but there seemed to be an overabundance of corridors that all looked identical regardless.<p>

Having finished her first two classes of the day, she now had enough of a break to seek out something she was sorely lacking so far: books. She had gotten a list of those she would need for her current lessons and was now looking for the library. How hard could it be to find a library in a school this small?

Finally finding a sign that led the way, she entered through the swinging doors and found a room that might one day be deserving of the name library once it grew up. Right now it was barely more than a room with several small tables, behind which she could see a handful of book shelves and some stacks that looked more suited for make-out sessions than anything else. Her mom probably had more books than what she could see here. Well, maybe not, but compared to Hemery's library, it was definitely on the small side.

"May I help you?"

A voice from somewhere off to the right almost made her jump. A man in his early forties was standing behind the library counter, wearing a tweed jacket and looking every bit as British as his accent sounded.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there," she said, approaching him.

"I'm Mr. Giles. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"Yeah, I'm Buffy Summers. I'm new here and I need..."

His eyebrows rose as he heard her name. "Oh, I think I know exactly what you need, Ms. Summers."

Something inside her screamed weariness at his tone of voice.

"You… do?"

"But of course, just a moment!" He bowed down behind the desk and a moment later he reemerged with a large tome in hand. He put the book on the counter in front of him and her blood turned to ice as she saw the title on the cover.

GRAYSKULL

"I am sorry that I did not immediately recognize you, milady," he went on, seemingly oblivious to her shocked state, "but I am afraid Mr. Merrick sent us but a very brief description of you. So it took me a moment to..."

She stumbled back, looking at him with wide, fearful eyes. "What do you want from me?"

He looked at her, puzzled. "Want? I... I am sorry, I assumed... I have the honor of being your new Man-at-Arms, milady. I..."

She laughed with a decidedly hysterical note. Her new Man-at-Arms? Of course, she should have figured. Merrick had told her some stuff about the Council of Elders. Not much, there hadn't really been time, but she knew the basics.

"So you're the new guy, eh?" she said, somewhat getting herself back under control. "Merrick died and the replacement is all lined up. How many of you are there, anyway? Is your replacement all ready and willing to leap into the fray the moment you kick it?"

"Milady, I'm afraid I don't..."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT," she yelled, her temper fraying dangerously.

He stopped, obviously looking for words.

"Mi... Ms. Summers, I am very sorry. I... I have read the report of what went down in Los Angeles with Count Marzo. Believe me, Mr. Merrick will be missed. He was a great man."

She snorted. "You read the report? Well, whoop-de-doo! I'm sure that's almost the exact same thing as having been there to see it all live and in color. Tell me, how did you like the part where that bastard Marzo almost killed me and Merrick jumped between us, taking the hit instead? How was the prose on that dramatic scene?"

Mr. Giles gave her a sad look. "I have but the faintest of ideas how terrible that night must have been for you, Ms. Summers. Mr. Merrick wrote that you and he had... bonded quite a bit in the brief time he was able to serve at your side. I am very sorry for your loss."

She bit back the tears she felt brimming in the corners of her eyes. She wouldn't cry! Not here, not in front of this stranger.

"Nice of you," she growled, stirring her anger to cover her sadness. "But enough of the sappiness, right? Right back to business. New Man-at-Arms, back into the fray. Well, I'm very sorry, too, Mr. Giles, but there will be none of that today. Or tomorrow. Or any day, actually. I'm out!"

He looked completely puzzled once again. "I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me, mister," she replied. "I'm out, I'm done! Find someone else to do your Man-at-Arms thing with. Marzo is dead and if there are any more like him, you can find someone else to take care of them. I'm officially retired!"

He blinked, clearly trying to process. "I see."

"Good! Now, I must be off to my next class and..."

"I am afraid, Ms. Summers, that you misjudge your situation," he interrupted her. "You are the Champion of Grayskull, defender of the world. You can't simply..."

"Oh, you bet I can. It's quite simple, really. No more Grayskull, no more flashy thunder and lightning, no more fighting monsters and pompous sorcerers with twirly mustaches. Done, over with, finished! Can I be any more clear here?"

She turned around, heading towards the library doors. She would simply walk out and pretend she'd never had this conversation. She could get the books she needed elsewhere. Surely there was a bookstore somewhere in this town and if not, there was always Amazon. No need to ever enter this room here again. She'd just...

„Just... eh, one thing, Ms. Summers."

Stopping, she took a deep breath and turned around to look at him. "What?"

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave her a stern look. "If you are... done..., as you said, with being the Champion of Grayskull, why is it that you brought the sword with you to school?"

Feeling a deep anger churning up inside her, she didn't answer but instead turned around and stormed out of the library. She was too furious to even ask how he knew; she just needed to get out of there as quickly as possible.

The sword! The damned sword! What did he know about the damned sword!? Oh, she was sure he had read tons of books about it. But that didn't mean he knew anything. Quickly striding towards her locker and ignoring everyone around her, she rested her head against the cool metal and tried to regain her composure. Yeah, the sword. She had brought the sword. It was right there in her locker, stuffed into a backpack way bigger than it needed to be for her school stuff just so it would fit inside. She could feel its presence right through the metal door.

How could anyone understand? From the moment Duncan Merrick had given her the sword, she had had it with her pretty much always. And it wasn't easy to hide a sword on your person, especially if you were not really all that tall and living in Los Angeles where mean temperatures didn't really allow for long coats or other clothes that might lend themselves to that. But she could no more leave it behind somewhere than she could sever one of her arms and just leave it lying. Being more than a room or two away from it caused her almost physical discomfort.

She hadn't asked for any of this, damn it!

* * *

><p>The school day was nearing its end and it couldn't come soon enough for Buffy's taste. She had managed to calm down after her encounter in the library and gotten through her next few classes without incident. Mostly by focusing entirely on the subject at hand – something she was normally not so good at – and ignoring everything else.<p>

This had led her to a somewhat uncomfortable revelation, though: she was way behind. Hardly surprising, actually. Learning and keeping up with her classes hadn't exactly been something she had had time for these last few months. But it really wouldn't do for her fresh start here to begin with failing several of her classes. Thus she needed some help.

Having asked a few of her new class mates, the same name had been mentioned without fail when it came to who to ask about tutoring: one Willow Rosenburg, who seemed to be the number one student at this school. Also, the words nerd, wallflower, recluse, and outcast might have been mentioned a few times.

Buffy found the girl in question sitting in the school yard under a tree, reading a book. Yep, that girl certainly fit the description. She looked as if the slightest sound might scare her to death. Buffy sighed, remembering having crushed several such girls and boys underfoot when she had been the queen of Hemery High. Well, fresh start and all. Might as well make a few amends in the process.

"Hi, you're Willow, right?" she said, stepping up to the girl.

Willow started a bit, staring wide-eyed, opening and closing her mouth several times before she found words.

"Yeah, I'm… oh, sorry. Did you want to sit here? I can move somewhere else, I mean..."

"Calm down, okay? I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm..."

"Buffy Summers, the new girl. Just transferred here from Hemery High in Los Angeles. And I really shouldn't know that, right? I mean, it's not like students are really allowed to look at those files of other students and I'm not saying I did anything of the sort, I mean..."

Buffy plopped down next to her, cutting her off once again.

"It's cool, Willow. Saves me some time. Anyway, I asked around and it seems you're the go-to gal."

Willow stared at her. "What?"

"For helping the less-academically inclined among us catch up? Tutoring?"

Comprehension dawned on the girl's face, making it light up like a Christmas tree. "Oh, tutoring. Yes, of course. I can help you, no problem."

"Cool. Have to warn you, though, I really need some help. I... kinda missed out on quite a bit these last few months."

"Hey, no prob! If Will here can help me pass math, she can help anybody."

Buffy looked up and saw Xander approaching, followed by another boy. Willow's face lit up even further upon seeing him. Oh boy, major crush going on here. And from the look of things, entirely one-sided, as Xander immediately focused on her.

"You know each other?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, we go way back," Xander said jokingly. "Way back when I almost helped her pick up her backpack from the floor, those were the days."

"Wasn't that like five hours ago?" Buffy asked, eyes twinkling with humor.

"Time is relative," Xander just said, plopping down beside Willow and her. "This here is Jesse, by the way. Jesse, Buffy. Buffy, Jesse."

"Hi," Buffy waved up at him.

"So you are the, quote, new goddess of Eternia Springs, unquote?" Jesse asked, causing Xander to blush furiously. "Heard a bit about you."

"Good to know my worshippers have already begun to spread the word," she nodded regally. "I accept tribute at all school hours."

"So what possessed you to move from a perfectly good city like Los Angeles to our little neck of the woods?" Xander asked, obviously desperate to change topics. "Don't get me wrong, it's a great town, but it's not exactly Hollywood."

Buffy shrugged. "We needed a change of scenery. Mom got a pretty decent job offer with Mountain Hoppers, so..."

"Wow, your mom's a pilot?" Willow asked. "This is so cool!"

"Best helicopter pilot in California, that's mom."

The proud smile on Buffy's face wasn't forced, though it had a bittersweet tang. Her mom really was a great pilot. Captain Marlena Glenn had flown military red cross choppers in the Gulf before her marriage and after her pregnancy she'd gone on to become one of the best flying ambulance pilots in California. And now she'd be ferrying tourists over the Sierra Nevada instead because her daughter was banned from all schools in the greater Los Angeles area. All because of the damn sword...

"So, is there anything to do here after dark?" she asked, eager for a change of subject herself now. "I mean, there's gotta be a club or something here, right?"

"Or something," Xander said. "The only nightlife around here is happening in and around Point Dread, an all-ages bar and dance club. Not exactly an international party spot, but we like it."

"Point Dread?" Buffy asked. "Who came up with that name?"

"It's a historical name," Willow eagerly jumped in. "Back when the first settlers came here it was a way station for those going into the Sierra. Since that was a pretty dangerous prospect the people started calling it Point Dread, because it was their last stop before going into dread, I guess, and there's been a Point Dread in Eternia Springs ever since."

"Does she ever breathe?" Buffy fake-whispered to Jesse and Xander.

"Occasionally," Jesse said, shrugging. "It's not for us mere mortals to understand the ways of the Wilow-babble."

Xander rose and gave an elaborate bow. "It would be our honor, milady, to give you the grand tour of the wonder that is Point Dread this evening. Shall we deign to meet at seven?"

Buffy suppressed the reaction at hearing the term 'milady' again and smiled, nodding. "I'd love to."

* * *

><p>Her mom hadn't actually needed much persuading to let her go out. Quite the opposite, she was glad to see that Buffy was making an effort to get to know their new home town and find new friends. Okay, there had been that unmistakable "do not get into trouble, young lady" glare there at the end, but apart from that, no problem.<p>

There were, of course, logistics issues. Eternia Springs wasn't Los Angeles and it was quite a few degrees cooler here, but it was still late summer and far too warm for any kind of long jacket or coat. Buffy improvised with a flowing blouse that went a good way past her butt. The spine sheath had been a gift from Merrick and was custom-made to fit snugly against her back. Wearing her hair down sufficed to hide the handle of the sword, so as long as she didn't do any slow dancing with grabby guys, she was fine.

Point Dread was a former warehouse that had been converted into a bar / club hybrid. A scary-looking orange-feathered eagle served as the place's logo, painted broadly across the entire front side. Once inside, she saw that the interior was divided into two sections, one being the bar, the other being the club. It being a weekday the place wasn't exactly filled to the rafters, but quite a few teenagers were gyrating on the dance floor, while several small group of adults filled the bar half.

Buffy saw Xander and Jesse on the dance floor, doing a very poor imitation of dancing and trying – and failing – to garner the attention of several girls. Looking on, Buffy saw Willow sitting at a table nearby, watching them. Or watching Xander, rather, she figured. There was a dreamy look on the girl's face.

Well, maybe she could do some good here. Sure, it was quite obvious that Xander was a bit smitten with her, but she figured it was just her being the new girl that did that. She certainly wasn't going to go there. Not only was she not looking for a guy right now, it would also quite thoroughly ruin the tender beginnings of friendship she had with Willow. So maybe if she could get Xander to notice Willow... two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Getting herself a glass of Coke from the bar, she walked over and sat down besides Willow.

"Hi, Willow," she greeted the redhead. "Enjoying the view?"

Willow started a bit, then blushed. "I... well, maybe. A little. I mean, Xander really isn't a great dancer, but still..."

"You'd like nothing better than to have him dance with you?" she asked knowingly.

Willow looked down. "Am I that obvious?"

"Not to him, apparently, but to an outsider? Easily."

"It's just... to Xander I'm his little sister. I don't think he even consciously realizes I'm a girl with... girl feelings."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, guys can be pretty thick when it comes to that. Looks like it's going to be up to you to hammer home the point."

"What?" Willow looked up, startled. "No, no I couldn't. I mean... no, that way lies madness and sweaty palms. I could never..."

Buffy interrupted her. "Do you want to hear my philosophy on that?" After Willow's hesitant nod, she continued. "I figure... Life is short. Not terribly original, I know, but it's true. Everything could change tomorrow. You could end up moving to another town, a car could run you over, a meteor might hit the Earth. What I'm saying is, seize the day. You never known how many more you have if you're not doing it today."

Willow looked thoughtful on that, though Buffy was far from sure the girl would actually follow through. Looking across the club, she suddenly tensed. Over on the bar side a familiar man was sitting at the counter, sipping a small glass of amber liquid. He was not looking her way, but Buffy was certain his presence was not a coincidence.

"Excuse me for a second?" she said, rising to her feet. She barely heard Willow's short reply. A moment later she had crossed the floor and was approaching her would-be Man-at-Arms with an angry look on her face.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, keeping her voice low.

Giles looked up at her, taking another sip from his glass. "Ms. Summers, what a pleasant surprise."

"Surprise my well-tanned butt," she growled. "You're following me!"

He shook his head. "As you might already have heard, this is rather the only place in this town where people might congregate for some leisure time. I assure you, I had no idea you would be here tonight."

Taking a deep breath, she wasn't sure she believed him, but didn't see any sense in pressing the point.

"As long as we're clear that I'm not interested in what you're selling."

"You made that quite clear," he replied. "But do you honestly believe you have much of a choice in the matter?"

"What are you talking about?"

Giles took another sip. "You have had dreams, haven't you?"

The denial was already on her lips, but she bit it back. What was the point? As much as she hated it, he was right on target. Denial would only take her so far.

"And what if I have?" she asked.

"I am certain Mr. Merrick has told you the legend of Grayskull, hasn't he?"

"Sure. Big bad Horde demons, big battle, mighty King Grayskull kicks demon butt, world is safe but for the stragglers left behind. One heir in every generation gets the sword, supposed to keep the world safe. Heard it all."

Giles nodded. "Indeed. Well, what Mr. Merrick has not told you, because he didn't know at the time, is that we are approaching a convergence point."

"A what?"

He gestured toward the empty bar stool at his side and after a moment Buffy sat down, not liking it, but somewhat curious regardless.

"A convergence point. Eons ago King Grayskull banished the Horde from the Earth into a dark prison dimension known as Despondos. Now normally the dimensional barriers between our world and Despondos are very much solid and impenetrable. In more or less regular cycles, though, the barriers grow... thin, metaphorically speaking. In those times the taint of the Horde in our world grows stronger, like a rising tide."

Buffy sighed. "Let me guess. We're approaching the high tide. Is that why Marzo could do what he did?"

Giles nodded. "Indeed. In quieter times his powers, while still formidable, would have been far less than they were. In a few years they would have ebbed again. Right now, though..."

"But he's gone, so what's the worry?"

"Ms. Summers, please. Marzo was but the latest of a long line of dark sorcerers and dabblers who have managed to utilize the taint of the Horde for their own purposes and he will certainly not be the last."

Buffy rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming. "And what am I supposed to do about that?"

"What do you know about this town, Ms. Summers?"

"Jewel of Tulare County, California? Prettiest little town on State Route 245?"

Giles sighed. Buffy made a bet with herself that she'd get him to bang his head on the counter before the night was over.

"In your dreams, Ms. Summers, did you by chance see something resembling a castle? With a skull-faced front?"

Buffy opened her mouth to answer when suddenly a huge crash could be heard from outside and the entire building shook. Plaster rained down from the ceiling, glasses fell to the floor and shattered into pieces, people screamed.

"What the hell was that?" Buffy yelled, barely managing to get off the bar stool before it fell over.

"I don't know," Giles replied, eyes darting back and forth. "It came from outside."

There was a surge of people heading for the exits and Buffy and Giles had to squeeze past quite a few panicked teenagers and adults before they finally managed to reach the outside. The first thing they saw was that the building on the other side of the road had a car sticking out of its second floor.

"Bloody hell," Giles muttered.

"Buffy, are you okay?" Willow, Xander, and Jesse appeared at their side, apparently having evacuated the building as well. "What's going on?"

"Mr. Giles?" Willow did a double take. "What are you doing here?"

A tremendous roar put an end to all further conversations as all the people present flinched and reflexively ducked down. A huge, hulking shape could be seen approaching from the far end of the street. Even walking hunched as it did it had to be at least seven feet tall. As it passed another car parked on the side of the road, it almost casually reached out and snatched it up.

"I don't believe this," Xander muttered.

"RUN!" Giles yelled.

That seemed to be the signal for the mesmerized gathering of people who had fled from Point Dread. Or maybe it was the car that came flying right toward them a moment later. Screaming, the people scattered in all directions, even as the car smashed right into the front door of Point Dread like the world's biggest bullet. The walls were shredded like tissue paper and debris went flying everywhere.

* * *

><p>"What the hell was that?"<p>

Buffy had no clear memory of the last minute or so until she found herself running alongside Willow and Xander. Where was Jesse? And where was Giles? And where were they right now anyway? She didn't know this street. Okay, she didn't know most streets of this town yet, but still.

"Something that throws cars," Willow said, very much out of breath from running, clearly panicking. "What kind of thing just throws cars around in the middle of the night? And on a school night, too."

Buffy had a terrible feeling that she knew exactly what that thing had been. Marzo might have been more or less human, but he had had helpers that... well, the only term that really came to mind were monsters. Inhuman brutes with terrible strength and even worse breath. Though she didn't remember any of them being that big.

"I think we lost it," Buffy said, trying to gather her own breath. Sweat was running down her face and her back, itching where the spine sheath pressed against her skin. The sword was like a heavy weight against her back and she could almost feel it humming in anticipation.

A snarling sound made them all look up and sure as hell, there was that shape again. Coming right toward them. Needing no further incentive, the three teenagers started running again.

"Damn, damn, damn," she muttered as she ran, hating that she had to do this, knowing that there was no other choice. She could hear Xander and Willow panting beside her, running with the kind of speed one only managed when death was fast approaching, but clearly close to their limits. And they wouldn't be able to outrun this, this thing, whatever it was. It was coming closer with great leaps and bounds and Buffy suspected that it was toying with them, otherwise it would already have caught up.

No, there really was but one thing she could do if she didn't plan on dying tonight and, worse than that, allowing Willow and Xander to be killed. Reaching behind her shoulders, her fingers closed around the cold steel hilt and something deep within her unknotted as anticipation and dread flooded through her in equal amounts.

"Keep running and don't look back," she yelled to her two new friends, even as she came to a stop and unsheathed her weapon.

"Are you nuts?" Xander asked, slowing down when he realized she was stopping.

"Run, Xander!" she ordered harshly.

She turned back, not having the time to check whether he was really doing as she told him. The enemy was fast approaching. There he was, coming straight at her, the hulking shape clearly visible in the light of the full moon. Big, monstrous, furred, snarling, big teeth. She was out of time. Gathering her resolve, she raised the gleaming sword to the dark sky and the words came to her lips as easily and quickly as they always had.

"BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL…"

END EPISODE 1


	3. Champion and the Beast

Champion and the Beast

Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull  
>Episode 2: Champion and the Beast<p>

See chapter 1 for disclaimer!

* * *

><p><em>The enemy was fast approaching. There he was, coming straight at her, the hulking shape clearly visible in the light of the full moon. Big, monstrous, furred, snarling, big teeth. She was out of time. Gathering her resolve, she raised the gleaming sword to the dark sky and the words came to her lips as easily and quickly as they always had.<em>

"BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL…"

The full moon disappeared behind storm clouds that hadn't been there seconds ago. A brilliant flash of light put everything into stark contrast as a humongous bolt of lightning arced down from the sky, followed instantly by a tremendous boom of thunder. The bolt hit the raised sword in Buffy's hand as if it was a lightning rod and her entire body was bathed in radiance. A lightning bolt of that size and intensity should have killed her instantly. This was far from normal lightning, though.

The giant hulking creature that had almost been upon her shrank back, shielding its eyes from the glare and growling in a mixture of anger and pain. Buffy barely noticed it. She could feel the power run through her body, could feel it pumping through her heart, making her blood feel like molten quicksilver in her veins. Her body changed, her limbs extended and bulked up. Buffy Summers was a slim girl standing a mere five feet, three inches tall. A moment later her own mother wouldn't have recognized her as a larger, much taller form emerged.

"I … HAVE … THE POWER!" a voice much deeper, much more powerful than that of Buffy Summers intoned.

The light went out, the sound of thunder faded. The creature lowered its arm, struggling to recover its night vision after the flash of brilliance. If it had expected to see the slim girl it had hunted, it was sorely disappointed. Someone else now stood in front of it.

"Your rampage ends here, monster!"

A woman of indeterminable age stood before him, her lean, muscular form at least six foot six inches tall. She was dressed in golden-white battle armor that looked like a curious mixture of various Greco-Roman designs and left her arms and legs bare. An ornate golden headpiece framed her angelic-looking face, almost like the winged helmet of a Viking. Her lower legs were encased in knee-high boots with golden shin guards and ornate golden bracers protected her forearms. A large, dangerous-looking sword was held easily in one hand, sparks of electricity still playing along the metal edge.

The creature sniffed and recognition dawned on its inhuman face.

"GRAYSKULL," it growled.

"You did not just sniff me, right?" she replied, disgusted.

Without further warning the creature bounced forward, flinging its massive bulk right towards her, giant claws extended, ready to rip her to shreds. The warrior woman did not flinch, however. Instead she moved as well, sliding down under the creature's charge and grabbing it by its fur as it passed. Before it knew what was happening the attacker found himself being whirled around by something impossibly strong and sent flying.

"Now you know how those poor cars felt," the warrior yelled, even as the creature went smashing into a group of trees, smashing them to cinder. For a moment there was silence, only disturbed by the sound of settling wood, but then the brute reemerged with a tremendous roar, spittle flying from its huge maw and anger blazing in its eyes.

"I will devour your flesh," it yelled, approaching its foe once again. It did not rush this time, though, apparently being smart enough to figure out that its opponent was far more formidable than it had originally thought.

"I bet you promise that to all the girls," the warrior replied, smirking. For a long moment the two opponents circled each other, each tensed and ready for action, eyes looking for an opening.

Faster than anything this big should be able to move the brute attacked once more, this time going low and swiping for the warrior's legs. She stepped aside, deflecting the blow with her sword, and the brute's claws skittered across the metal with a screeching sound. Whirling around, the warrior kicked out and her heel caught the creature in the neck, sending it sprawling face-first into the dirt.

Stunned, the creature grunted as a boot heel was planted onto its neck and the tip of a sword hovered at its throat.

"Now how about you tell me who and what you are and what that little joyride through town was all about, eh?"

The creature seemed disinclined to answer, instead closing its eyes and frowning as if in deep concentration. A moment later there was movement in the trees and several dark shapes emerged, converging on the warrior woman.

Spotting the new attackers from the corner of her eye, the warrior jumped to the side to avoid their charge, rolling and coming back to her feet a second later. Four four-legged shapes surrounded her even as the brute got back to its feet and she recognized them as cougars. Fully grown ones, too, and apparently hungry for some tasty fresh meat, judging by the prominent display of their canines.

"You ask who I am, wench?" the brute chuckled. "You face Raqquill Rqazz, the king of the beasts. You will scream my name as I and my pretties tear you apart."

"I always figured the whole thing about villains' monologing was a cliché, but after Marzo and you I'm no longer sure," the warrior replied flippantly, her eyes darting between the approaching big cats. From the beast-man's words she figured he was somehow controlling these animals, so killing them was a definite no, but she had little desire to be sliced to ribbons by their claws, either.

Thankfully the power of Grayskull wasn't just making her insanely strong, fast, and agile. A thousand different battle plans and tactics buzzed through her head in a manner of moments, the collective experience of endless generations of warriors at her beck and call. So when the beast-man ordered his pets to attack, she was more than ready.

The first two cougars came in high and low, looking to attack her neck and legs at the same time. She went down into a crouch, letting the first one pass over her head, while her fist shot out at the second one in a blur of motion. She caught it right in the snout, not hard enough to shatter its skull, but more than hard enough to send it into deep unconsciousness.

Not waiting for the others to react, she leaped forward out of her crouch, over the body of the unconscious cougar, and right between the other two. She dropped the sword she held in one hand, instead reaching out and grabbing both of the big cats by the scruffs of their neck. The moment her feet touched the ground again, she hoisted them both up despite their combined weight of over 300 pounds and whirled them around. When she let them go two seconds later, they both went flying off into opposite directions with enough force that the impact would stun them, landing on their feet or not.

Then she was a heartbeat too slow as the first cougar that had passed over her was back in the fray. The bracer on her right arm took the brunt of the impact, but the cougar's claws still managed to rake across her upper arm and leave several bleeding gashes. Going with the flow she threw her head forward and headbutted the poor cat, knocking it out as well.

The slight tremor of the ground alerted her to the new danger and she quickly rolled over to where she had dropped the sword, just in time to avoid being stomped by the beast-man's clawed foot. When she regained her footing, sword in hand, she saw that he had unwound a large black whip from around his torso, brandishing it like a lion tamer.

"You fight well, wench," the brute growled, cracking the whip for emphasis, "but it will avail you naught. You will still die here this day."

"Avail me 'naught'?" she asked, shaking her head. "Seriously, who talks like that?"

The whip lashed out, the tip of it cracking as it broke the sound barrier, and she barely managed to bring the sword up in time. The length of the whip wrapped around it and she could see the beast-man's muscles tense as he prepared to heave, hoping to wrench the weapon from her grasp. Jumping off, she added her own thrust to his strength and came shooting at him like a freight train. A moment later her shoulder dug into his belly with thunderous force. He huffed as all his breath was knocked violently out of him and he went flying once again.

Before he could recover she was upon him and hoisted his giant frame over her head. He had to weigh at least 500 pounds, she figured. He might as well have been a feather. A moment later she drove him back down into the ground, head first, and the brute's limbs went slack. The thing was tough, he still wasn't knocked out, but he had certainly felt that.

Hoisting him up into a kneeling position, she snaked her arm around his neck from behind and applied just enough pressure to let him know that she could snap it like a twig if she wanted to.

"Now let's try this again, beast-man! Why are you here? What do you want?"

A cackle filled the air and her head snapped up, searching for the source.

"Beast-Man, eh? I like that. I believe that shall be your new name from now on, Rqazz!"

A figure had appeared at the edge of the trees without warning. She couldn't really make it out despite the light from the street lamps; it was almost as if the light was shying away from him. Whoever he was, he was wearing some kind of hooded cloak that obscured him almost completely.

"Another party crasher?" the warrior asked. "And here they told me this town was dead after dark."

"Very poor choice of words," the cloaked figure cackled. A moment later there was a flicker of movement and she ducked her head down as a black sword came flying through the air by itself and whizzed right by her head, a lock of golden hair falling to the ground.

She felt more than saw the sword looping around and coming back at her, so she blocked it with the first thing that was at hand. The Beast-Man creature screamed as the black blade was embedded in his arm and a moment later she kicked him in the back hard enough to send him flying once again, right toward the cloaked figure. The figure... flowed to the side, there was no better way to describe it. The Beast-Man hit some trees again and crumpled to the ground, where he remained in a whimpering heap.

"I have heard much about the Champions of Grayskull," the cloaked one said as he faced her, seemingly unconcerned for his wounded... comrade? Partner? Servant? "It seems the tales were not exaggerated."

"Wish I could say the same about you, but truth is I have no idea who you are. Care to do the polite thing and introduce yourself?"

The cloaked one simply gave a bow, one of his arms briefly emerging from the shadows. Was he... was that blue skin? Maybe just a trick of the light.

"I am simply an interested party, milady. The study of the Grayskull legend and everything connected with it is a hobby of mine, you see. And your presence here at this time has such... interesting implications."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but it's nice to see I have fans. I don't give out autographs, though, so why don't you crawl back to wherever it is you came from?"

He cackled again. It seemed he liked to do that a lot, actually. "Oh, most certainly. Just one more thing, though." All humor left its voice. "Tell me where the Castle is!"

She frowned. "Castle? What castle?" Hadn't Giles said something about a castle just before this whole madness had started?

"Don't play me for a fool," the cloaked one yelled, now clearly angry. She could feel the pressure building in the air, clearly remembering that feeling from when she had faced Marzo. So when he moved, a ram-headed staff emerging from his cloak, she was ready.

A bolt of crackling energy shot out from the ram's head, heading right for her, but she intercepted it with the sword. Yep, he was up to the same tricks as Marzo, she would recognize that feeling anywhere. Pure power, crackling like the lightning of Grayskull, but with an aftertaste like rotten meat, smelling of death and decay. The tainted power of the Horde. Marzo had channeled it via an amulet, not a staff, but the result was the same. As was her counter. The unleashed energy played along the length of the blade and she could feel the pressure almost like physical force, but a moment later it let up, fizzling harmlessly into nothing.

"Cheap tricks," she snarked. "I've seen better. Here are some of mine!"

Her entire body coiled like a spring, ready to leap and take the fight to her enemy.

"Ah, ah, ah!"

The cloaked figure gestured to somewhere off to the side. Following the motion, she tensed as she saw the figures standing there. Damn it, she had told them to run.

Willow and Xander were watching everything with wide eyes, the fear almost tangible around them. Most of that fear was probably centered on the black sword that was hovering directly in front of the redheaded girl, the cutting edge of the blade only inches away from Willow's pale neck.

"The vaunted Champion of Grayskull wouldn't endanger the lives of innocent bystanders now, would she?" the cloaked one cackled, good humor apparently restored. "If we can all just cooperate, there is no need for the cutting of any slender throats, at least not tonight. I believe I asked you a question, warrior. WHERE… IS… THE CASTLE?"

She opened her mouth to answer, to repeat that she didn't know what he was talking about, even as her mind desperately sought to come up with a solution that would not leave Willow bleeding out on the street. Thankfully, though, someone else acted first.

The armored figure smashed into the cloaked one from the side, toppling him. The black sword fell to the ground as its master's concentration broke. Reacting on instinct she dashed forward and swung her own blade in a vicious arc and a moment later only fragments remained of the black weapon.

She looked up at the two terrified teens. "RUN!"

This time, it seemed, they did as asked. Looking over at her helper, she was momentarily shocked to recognize him. Now where the hell had Giles gotten that rust-colored armor from so fast? Not to mention the big battle mace he was swinging right at the cloaked one's hidden face?

Questions were shelved for later as she saw the cloaked one react, his ram-staff easily blocking Giles' mace. A leg flashed out from beneath the folds of the cloak and her Man-at-Arms went flying, a visible dent in his chest plate. Energy began to spark between the curved horns of the ram's head and she had a terrible flashback.

For a moment the cloaked one was replaced by Count Marzo, holding up his amulet, ready to blast her as she was pinned down by debris. Merrick appeared from nowhere, jumping into the path of the lethal blast, and his screams echoed in her ears as the eldritch flame took his life.

A heartbeat later she was back in the present and wasted no more time. Giles was down, the cloaked one prepared to blast him, but she wouldn't allow it. Not this time! She jumped, moving so fast her motions blurred, and her blade once again intercepted the blast of dark power. Only this time she allowed her instincts to guide her hand and the energy was not dissipated harmlessly into the night air. Instead she angled the blade just so and sent it right back where it had come from.

A shrill cry of pain emerged from the black cloak as her opponent was blasted back by his own power. The cloak caught fire and the figure stumbled, obviously shaken.

"Damn you, warrior," it cursed. "You have not seen the last of me!"

The shadows seemed to ripple, the flames were doused, and a moment later the spot where the cloaked one had just stood was empty. Her eyes darted over to the side, but she was not terribly surprised to see that there was no trace of the Beast-Man, either. Just smashed trees, torn up pavement, and two unconscious cougars.

When nothing else happened and the night remained still, she finally relaxed and went over to check on her Man-at-Arms.

"Are you all right?" she asked, offering him a hand and pulling him back to his feet.

"I will be fine," he said, though he wheezed a bit as he spoke. "Our mysterious foe kicks as hard as mule."

"His energy blasts are nothing to sneeze at, either. And he has a cute vanishing trick, too."

Giles nodded, thankfully leaning on the arm she offered him for support as he gathered his breath. She was a good bit taller than he was and could easily support his weight.

"For someone who no longer wished to fight the good fight," he said, "you did quite well."

She smiled, but then perked up as she heard sirens in the distance.

"It appears someone heard our little bout of tree smashing and pavement destruction. We should probably make ourselves scarce. Can you walk?"

"Yes. But perhaps you should... eh, slip into something a little more inconspicuous?"

"Hey, your armor is far more unfashionable than mine," she jested, but nodded. Giles could just shed the breast plate and mace if they were approached, but a six foot six blonde Valkyrie in battle armor might raise some questions. So she knelt down on the ground, grabbed the sword handle with both hands, and closed her eyes. Something inside her tensed, but she pushed it down.

"Let the power return," she whispered. A faint aura of energy surrounded her form and a moment later the world seemed to grow dimmer, her limbs heavier, and the air somewhat colder. The Champion of Grayskull was gone and Buffy Summers had returned.

"Astonishing," Giles said, now taller than her once again. "I've read about the transformation, but to see it with my own eyes..."

"You should try being in the middle of it sometime," Buffy said, an edge to her voice. She closed her eyes, gathering her wits about her once again. It wasn't Giles fault, after all. It's just that this got harder and harder every time. There was a reason why she hadn't wanted to do it anymore.

"Buffy?"

Giles and she both looked up, taken by surprise. A moment later she groaned. Twice, she cursed internally. Twice she had told them to run. Yet there they were, looking at her with wide eyes and utterly gobsmacked. Willow and Xander.

"Oh bloody hell," Giles just muttered.

* * *

><p>It was a new morning. Sunlight was streaming through the windows of Eternia Springs High, the conversations of students filled the corridors, and everything seemed perfectly all right. Sure, a lot of the conversations were centered around the events of the previous night. Apparently a bunch of drunken idiots from out of town had hijacked a few cars and ended up crashing them, some of the directly into buildings. How exactly they had managed to crash one of them into a second floor was the matter of some debate, but all in all people weren't too worried. The sheriff had things in hand, they were sure.<p>

Buffy scoffed internally as she passed them. Drunken idiots, yeah. She wished. Things would be so much easier if that were the case. As she made her way to the library she briefly replayed the conversation she had had with her mom, who had been understandably worried about her daughter having been in the middle of last night's altercation. After quite a few reassurances that she was perfectly all right and hadn't really seen much of anything her mom had let it go, thankfully. Still, some of the shine of having moved to a new town for a fresh start had already worn off, it seemed.

Entering the library, she was not really surprised to see Willow and Xander already there. She'd had the slim hope that maybe the two other teens might have decided after a good night's sleep that yesterday's events had been nothing but a bad dream, but no such luck.

"You promised us some answers," Xander said.

Willlow elbowed him in the side. "And we wanted to thank you and Mr. Giles for saving our lives, too."

"Yeah," Xander said, blushing a bit in embarrassment. "That, too, of course. Thank you."

Giles, sitting behind the counter, was obviously not pleased by their presence at all. "You are welcome. In return you could simply try and forget what you have seen."

"Fat chance," Xander replied. "What we saw last night... God, that was incredible! No chance I'll ever forget it."

As it turned out the two teens hadn't just seen the fight and the aftermath, no. They had also been close enough to see Buffy call upon the Power of Grayskull in the first place. Buffy shook her head. She liked both of them, but they sure didn't have much in the way of common sense. What part of "Run!" hadn't they understood, honestly?

"Was anyone hurt last night?" Buffy asked Giles, sitting down at the library's table.

"Thankfully no," Giles replied. "Some bumps and bruises from people running from Point Dread when the car hit the entrance, but nothing serious. And it seems most of them are happy blaming it all on drunken hooligans."

"I talked to Jeese earlier," Xander added. "He didn't see anything, really. Just ran when the building shook and was a bit worried when he was separated from us. He got home all right, though."

"So what was that?" Willow asked, almost bouncing from excitement. "I mean, that giant hulking thing, and you with the sword, and that lightning bolt that made you all big and adult and... and then that guy in the cloak who made the sword float and... and I really didn't like it when he threatened to cut my throat, but... wow, the way you fought and everything, it was..."

"She wants to know what happened," Xander interrupted her. "So do I."

Buffy was amused by Willow's babble, but not really looking forward to sharing her story with anyone. Thankfully she was not alone in this.

"So how about it, Mr. Giles?" she looked at him. "Care to give a brief explanation to the class?"

He gave her an exasperated look in return. "I do not remember this being part of a Man-at-Arms' duties."

"It's a brave new world, Mr. Giles," she replied with twinkling eyes. "And a good Man-at-Arms always needs to be adaptable to new circumstances."

Sighing, the stood up.

"The world is older than any of you know," he began. "And contrary to popular belief, it did not start out as paradise. Demons ruled over the primordial Earth, made it their home, their hell. For untold generations they were the ultimate power and the early humans were but playthings to their whims.

"The demons called themselves the Horde. And their leader, the vilest and most powerful of them all, was Hordak, God-King of the Primordium. Finally, though, the Horde's time came to an end, thanks to a man called King Grayskull. By means unknown he had forged a magical sword that enabled him to channel tremendous power and face Hordak as an equal.

"Hordak met Gray Skull in battle and, after a long, painful struggle, finally defeated him. Hordak and the Horde were banished from the Earth, never to return. Grayskull was mortally wounded in the fight, though. As his last act he passed his sword on to his comrades and warned them that, though banished, the evil of the Horde would endure on Earth. Certain of their magics remained, and their tainted blood had given rise to strange half-breed creatures that had multiplied and spread.

"Grayskull told his comrades that in each future generation there would be one worthy to wield his sword and the power it contained. And so it was. Into every generation a champion is born, who uses the power of Grayskull to fight against the forces of darkness. Buffy is this generation's champion."

"Wow," Willow whispered, entranced by the tale.

"It sounds a lot cooler than it is," Buffy just added.

"Okay," Xander finally said, digesting what he had heard. "So... you use that sword to become... Wonder Woman, basically. I get that. But... what about those guys you fought? What were they?"

"The Beast-Man was one of the half-breeds the legend tells of," Giles answered. "A distant descendant of one of the Horde demons. As for the cloaked one, I can only speculate. Certainly a mage of some sort."

Buffy went over the events in her mind.

"Giles, he wanted to know something about a castle. You mentioned a castle yesterday, too, before the Beast-Man attacked. Care to share?"

Giles nodded, opening the book he had briefly shown her yesterday and rummaging through the pages until he found what he was looking for. Turning the book over, he showed her a drawing of a forbidding structure that sparked a definite sense of recognition.

"I believe you might have seen something like this in your dreams, have you not?" Giles asked.

At her nod, he continued. "This is a drawing of Castle Grayskull. Castle Grayskull was, as the name implies, the keep of King Grayskull. According to legend it is where he forged the Sword of Power from the ores of his native mountains and it was before its gates that he faced and defeated the God-King Hordak."

Buffy gave him a disbelieving glare. "And that was here in California?"

"Maybe Grayskull and this Hordak guy enjoyed the climate here?" Xander proposed.

Giles shook his head, slightly exasperated. "No, of course not. No one knows where this battle originally took place. When Hordak was defeated and banished to dark realm of Despondos, the Castle was suffused with the unleashed interdimensional energies. It is said that it now stands at the very center of the dimensions, at the border between the light and the dark. It only manifests on the earthly plane when the world cycle causes the barriers between Earth and Despondos to grow weaker. The Council has documented all previous appearances of Castle Grayskull and it has never stood in the same location twice."

"And you think it's here. Now," Buffy guessed.

"Your dream seems to suggest as much. And it would explain the creature's interest as well. At no other place on Earth are the walls to Despondos thinner than within Castle Grayskull. Anyone wanting to tap into that power would certainly be very interested in finding it."

Willow looked back and forth between them. "So... there is a magical castle... a travelling magical castle somewhere in the Sierra Nevada? Wow! How are we gonna find it?"

"WE … are not doing anything of the sort," Buffy gruffly interjected. "You guys are not involved in this. I certainly wouldn't want to be, either, but it seems I haven't been given much of a choice in the matter. Not if these guys are willing to demolish the town and kill people to get what they want."

"But we want to help," Willow chirped. "I mean, you saved us. And we're your friends. And..."

"Thanks, Willow, but no thanks. It's far too dangerous and, no offence, your presence last night wasn't exactly helpful."

Xander did look slightly offended, actually, but obviously didn't find any arguments against her words. So he just sat back down and huffed. Buffy looked back at Giles.

"Any idea on how to find that castle?"

"According to our records Castle Grayskull has a guardian spirit, usually appearing in the shape of a..."

"... a big red bird?" Buffy asked, remembering the image from her dream.

"Eh… yes, quite. Apparently this guardian summons the Champion to the Castle when he or she is needed. I... I'm afraid that is pretty much it. As far as we know only the Champions of Grayskull have ever actually entered the Castle and none of them have been very forthcoming with information on what they have seen inside."

"Great," Buffy huffed. "So I have to wait until the big red bird from my dreams makes an appearance in real life. And until then? Cross my fingers that we won't have another joyriding monster in town?"

"But... but you can kick its ass again if that happens, right?" Willow asked, looking at her. "I mean, you were awesome when you were... the other you, I mean. Not like you're not awesome, too, you are, but when you were the other you, you were... extra awesome."

"Thanks," Buffy said drily. "I try."

She left the library without another word, trying to calm the turmoil inside of her. She hated the look of pure adoration and almost hero-worship she'd seen in Willow's eyes and, to a lesser extent, in Xander's as well. No doubt it had all looked mega-awesome from their eyes. Raise the magic sword, call down the lightning, and kick ass.

None of them knew the reality of it.

None of them knew the price.

* * *

><p>Somehow she'd gotten through the school day without further questioning from Willow and Xander. Somehow she had made it home and through dinner without her mom clueing in to the turmoil of emotions going on inside of her. Given what had happened yesterday her mom didn't question it when Buffy decided to forego another night of the town and turn in early. And she had wanted to turn in early, actually. She had been looking forward to a good night of sleep without battling monsters or strange dreams.<p>

She really shouldn't have been surprised that things didn't work out that way.

Starting awake from another bout of dreams, she looked at the clock on her nightstand. Two in the morning. Wonderful. She was about to turn around and try to get back to sleep when she heard a rustling from the direction of her window. Looking up, she saw a dark shape stand out against the night sky.

A bird was sitting in front of her window. A huge red bird that was looking at her with eyes that held far more intelligence than any bird she'd ever encountered.

"Let me guess," she muttered. "You're the guardian and you're here to take me to the Castle, right?"

The bird hooted.

"Figures."

END EPISODE II


	4. My Home is My Castle

Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull  
>Episode 3: My Home is My Castle<p>

See chapter 1 for disclaimer!

* * *

><p><em>A bird was sitting in front of her window. A huge red bird that was looking at her with eyes that held far more intelligence than any bird she'd ever encountered.<em>

_"Let me guess," she muttered. "You're the guardian and you're here to take me to the Castle, right?"_

_The bird hooted._

_"Figures."_

* * *

><p>Buffy figured she really needed some form of transportation after all. Granted, Eternia Springs itself was far from large and just about everything was more or less in walking range. Right now, though, she was following a large red bird, probably a falcon or something, and it was leading her out of the town and into the forest, right towards the mountains of the Sierra Nevada. In the middle of the night, no less.<p>

"I hope you're not expecting me to hike all through the night, birdie," she yelled up at the falcon that was circling overhead. "I've got school tomorrow, you know?"

Maybe she could convince her mom to buy her a dirt bike or something like that? Maybe one of those quad thingies? She doubted a normal car would be of much avail on a trek toward a hidden castle, after all. There was not a paved road in sight right now.

"If this is turning into a regular thing I definitely want a motorbike," she complained. "I'm a city girl, you know?"

For a moment she considered simply raising the sword and calling on the Power of Grayskull. The Champion could run at ridiculous speed, after all, and probably clear half the forest in a single bound. She quickly shook her head, banishing the thought. She had resolved for herself only to use the power if there was absolutely, positively no other way and a hike through the woods certainly didn't qualify.

Something funky was going on, though. A minute or so into the forest she was already moving steadily upwards, the ground under her feet becoming rockier with every step. The mountains were close to the town, yes, but close in the sense of 'jump in your jeep and be there in fifteen minutes', not 'two-minute-hike-and-your-halfway-there' close.

She looked up at the red falcon again. "I presume you're doing this?"

The falcon merely hooted in reply again.

"Thought so. Okay, I'd still love a motorbike or something, but this is not bad, either."

As she went on the path through the woods became more difficult, but also more familiar somehow. Her dreams, she guessed. She had walked this path before in her dreams. Granted, in her dreams she had been followed by a big monster or something. Probably that Beast-Man guy she had fought yesterday. Still, the path was the same. She did her best to memorize it, though she wasn't sure if that whole seven-league-boots thing she seemed to have going on would work without her new falcon buddy.

And if she remembered right, that meant any minute now she would see...

The path ended in front of what she had originally presumed to be a big rocky cliff face, stretching high above her head. Now, with no dreamy distortion thing and no monsters breathing down her neck she had a bit more time to study it. It was not a cliff. It was a castle, all right, though it bore little resemblance to the medieval structures from Europe she had seen in books and movies. More like a big set piece from a Conan movie. Huge, apparently assembled from uncut rocks. The rocks were covered in thick layers of moss, giving the whole structure a greenish, sickly look, not to mention making it seem a million years old. And there in the center was her favorite feature: the big skull face that someone had taken great pain to carve into the rocky façade.

"King Grayskull was really living up the whole skull-theme, wasn't he?" Buffy asked rhetorically.

The falcon hooted again before diving towards the castle walls. It flapped its wings, hovering, before settling in what Buffy could now see was a window. No, they didn't call them windows in castles, right? Crenels? Embrasures? Something like that. Whatever it was called, it was at least 20 feet above her.

"Fine and dandy for you flying folk," she yelled, "but how about you open the door for me?"

The falcon didn't hoot, it just gave a look that seemed to say she was on her own. Great. She studied the lower part of the skull face, which she remember from her dream to be the entrance. Now having time to look, she saw that the 'mouth' of the skull was looking like a big drawbridge of some sort. But these things were supposed to be lowered from inside, weren't they? It's not like the castle lords of yore had used keys like folks nowadays or...

Her eyes flickered to the right of the draw bridge and spotted a hole in the rocky wall, surrounded by what seemed to be carved symbols. A hole about the right size for...

"Oh for crying out loud," she muttered, approaching the drawbridge and drawing the sword from her back.

The moment her fingers closed around the steel hilt, she had to fight down the urge to just raise it above her head and shout the words that bring down the lightning. Only when there was no other way, she reminded herself. Only then. Keeping the tip of the sword firmly pointed downwards, she went up to the huge door and off to its right side, where she had spotted the hole.

"Well, here goes nothing," she said, raising the sword and sliding it tip-first into the hole. A rumble went through the entire structure before her and she could see the symbols around the hole – the key hole, as it seemed – light up with inner fire. Taking a wild guess, she turned the sword clockwise.

The entire front of the castle shook and the outline of the big drawbridge lit up in a fiery light. Moments later it began to lower, almost like a giant maw opening. A few seconds later it settled down and she could see that the inner outline of the lowered drawbridge was ringed with teeth.

"Really running that theme into the ground, people," she sighed, removing the sword from the keyhole and entering the castle.

* * *

><p>The interior of the castle was every bit as dark and gloomy as the outside suggested. Oh, one could see that it had probably been a pretty impressive place once. Large halls, ornate designs on the walls, the works. But that had been ages ago. Buffy wasn't sure how long ago the time of King Grayskull had been, but they were talking several thousand years at the very least. No one had called the cleaning staff ever since, it seemed.<p>

Having put the sword back into the spine sheath on her back had relieved some of the pressure on her mind, so she could concentrate on her surroundings. Yes, the place was a dump, but there was something about it, something that went far beyond the dingy look and moldy rocks.

She remembered what Giles had told her earlier. Nowhere else on Earth were the walls between this world and Despondos thinner than within Castle Grayskull. Now that she was here, she could feel it. The ground beneath her feet, the very air that surrounded her, it all felt... thin. As if it would take but a little more pressure to break it in two and punch through into... well, some place that she really wouldn't want to punch into, she bet. Reality itself felt fragile in this place. She didn't like the feeling at all.

She walked on, uncertain how long and far she had walked. How long had she been in here? A few minutes? An hour? She couldn't tell. Time seemed to be wonky in here as well. Well, considering that this entire structure seemed to be dimensionally unstable or something, liable to utterly disappear from the face of the Earth until it reappeared centuries later and half a world away, that really shouldn't surprise her much, should it?

"Hello?" she called out. "I'm here, I unlocked the door and everything. How about some hospitality now?"

There was a rustle of feathers somewhere off to the right and she followed the sound. An indeterminable amount of time later she finally stepped into a large room that had probably at one time been the throne room of Castle Grayskull. The big throne sitting on top of the raised dais at the far end kind of clued her in to that fact. There was light streaming in from somewhere above, dispelling the oppressive darkness that held the rest of the place in its grip, and she could see her buddy the falcon circle far overhead.

As she entered, the falcon swept down and settled before the throne. A moment later it began to chance. Buffy stopped, surprised. It was one thing to know that she herself could shift into another, very different body from her own. Seeing someone else do it, though, was quite the different thing. Especially since the falcon she had followed here had just changed into a woman.

"Welcome to Grayskull, Champion," the woman said.

The falcon-woman stood in front of the throne, wearing a long cloak of feathers and a headdress resembling the head of the falcon she'd just been. It was impossible to say how old she was. From her face Buffy would have guessed somewhere in her early thirties maybe, but there was a timelessness to those deep green eyes that seemed to suggest she might just as well be thousands of years old. Despite her unhappiness about this entire situation, Buffy felt that this was a person she could trust. She just couldn't tell if that feeling came from herself or was somehow part of the whole Grayskull deal.

"Thanks, nice place you have here," she replied, walking closer. "And you are?"

"I am Zoar, guardian of Castle Grayskull."

"I figured that last part," Buffy replied. "Now, not that the Castle isn't impressive as heck and all, plus your bird shapeshifting thing is really cool, but it's the middle of the night, tomorrow is a school day, so you think we could get to the point of this meeting?"

"Very well," the woman stepped down from the throne and motioned for her to follow. Sighing deeply, Buffy walked after her as they stepped into a neighboring room, much smaller than the throne room. A large stone table dominated the interior and Buffy briefly thought 'King Arthur's Round Table', imagining she could see King Grayskull and his warriors sit around it and plan their campaign against the Horde. Shaking her head, she dispelled the image.

"I am certain your Man-at-Arms has already told you that Castle Grayskull only appears on the Earth plane at certain times when the dimensions align closely. And that its location is rather random and cannot easily be predicted."

"He mentioned something like that."

Zoar gestured and images began to appear above the stone table. Buffy needed a moment to figure out that it was a bird's eye view of Eternia Springs and the surrounding country, including Lake Rakash and the edge of the Sierra Nevada.

"For eons men and half-men that covet the power of the Horde have attempted to find Castle Grayskull and to storm its gates. That is nothing new and no one has ever succeeded. Some came close, but ever the Champion of Grayskull stood between them and success. Now, though, something new has happened. Something unexpected. Something that is somehow connected with this area, this town."

Buffy sat down on one of the stone chairs, stifling a yawn. "And that something is? Please condense it a bit, I'm really tired."

Zoar gave her a stare that made her feel like her mom had just caught her slacking off in her household chores and she unconsciously sat up a bit straighter, feeling chastised.

"Simply put, Champion, this entire area is a snare."

"A snare? Okay, a bit less condensed, please, because I don't get it."

"A snare for Castle Grayskull. Someone has spent a lot of time, effort, and power to make this entire region into a huge ritual ground and magical hotspot, with the primary purpose to not only ensure that Castle Grayskull would manifest in this area when the world cycle brought Earth and Despondos close together, but to trap it here as well."

Buffy blinked, mind working through her tiredness. "So... you're saying someone wanted the Castle here? And it's here to stay? No disappearing for another few centuries again?"

Zoar nodded. "You are correct on the first. As for the latter, to have Castle Grayskull stay in this world permanently is beyond anyone's power except possibly Hordak himself. But whoever created this snare has ensured that Castle Grayskull will stay in one place far longer than it usually does. I am still trying to work out the entangled magics of this place, but I estimate that the castle will remain here for at least two or three years, possibly longer."

Buffy rested her chin on her folded hands, thinking.

"When did the Castle manifest here?" she asked.

"Two nights ago," Zoar replied.

"Meaning the first time I had the dream, right?" Buffy received a nod in return. "And what do you know, on the following evening a cloaked guy with a Beast-Man for a lackey is asking questions about the Castle's location while trying to skewer me with flying swords. What are the odds those things are not connected?"

"You are far smarter than you pretend to be," Zoar said, giving her a smile.

"Hey," Buffy objected, not sure if she was being complimented or scolded. Then she got serious again. "So if that is the same guy who created this... snare, as you call it, how bad is he gonna be? I only have Count Marzo as a measuring stick and from the brief encounter yesterday I'd have said he's about equally strong."

"The one called Count Marzo had a strong talent for using the Horde-tainted magics, that is true. But to create a master spell like this snare would require more than raw power. It would take skill, patience, and devotion. The cloaked one probably dedicated decades to its creation judging by the intricacy of the spellwork."

"Strong and smart then, just great," she muttered. Then another thought came to her and she gave Zoar a sharp glare. "It's not just a coincidence that mom got offered a good job here in this town, was it?"

Zoar gave her a wistful smile. "Those who are chosen by destiny to protect this sorry world will always be where they are needed. And they are seldom given a choice in the matter."

Looking into those sad, old eyes in that ageless face Buffy got the distinct impression that Zoar hadn't asked for this job any more than she had for hers. Just a gut feeling.

"So we're all just destiny's puppets?" she asked, feeling decidedly down right now.

"Puppets? No. At the end of the day the choices we make are still our own, no matter how strongly we might be influenced by the forces around us." She pointed at the sword on Buffy's back, the handle just visible between the strands of her hair. "I know your feelings about the burden you have been asked to carry, Buffy Summers. You are free to leave the sword here in the Castle when you go, never to take it up again. But of course you also know the consequences should you make that choice, do you not?"

She nodded, knowing full well. One heir in every generation, only one worthy to wield the sword and the power it contained. For better or worse, she was the gal. No one else could wield the sword. She chuckled, remembering how Pike had tried. But no matter how high he held the sword, or how often he said the magic words, there was no lightning and thunder, no transformation. In the hands of everyone else, it was just a sword. An exceptionally sharp and well-balanced one, but still just a sword. It was only for her that it was more than that. The power would only come to her.

Lucky her.

"So now what?" she asked, looking up. "I mean, what's the plan?"

"The plan, my Champion, is to ensure that the cloaked one - and whoever else might want to take advantage of the prolonged presence of Castle Grayskull in this world - does not get what he desires. Grayskull must be protected for the sake of the world. That is your task."

"Narrow it down, why don't you," she muttered. "You seem to be pretty good with the voodoo yourself. Care to lend a helping hand?"

Zoar shook her head. "While my position as guardian of Grayskull gives me access to considerable power, it can only be used within these walls. If someone attacks Grayskull directly I may act, but at all other times there is very little I can do to help, I fear."

"Figures."

"Do not fear, my Champion. You will not undertake this task all by yourself. You have your Man-at-Arms at your side and more allies are being gathered as well. King Grayskull didn't face the evil of the Horde alone and neither will you."

Buffy smiled a little at the attempt to cheer her up. "Any chance one of those allies will supply me with a set of wheels?"

* * *

><p>As she walked back towards her home and some scant few hours of sleep remaining, Buffy didn't notice that the red falcon Zoar had once again transformed into had also left the Castle behind and took wing towards the town. It arrived a lot quicker than she did, naturally, and dove towards a house near the town center before vanishing from sight.<p>

Tomorrow was a school day, after all.

* * *

><p>The following morning a very tired Buffy Summers sat in the high school library. Thankfully her Man-at-Arms seemed to have anticipated her morning grouchiness and supplied coffee in ample amounts. Okay, maybe she would retain him after all. Making great coffee was, in her opinion, and even more important survival skill than knowing how to swing a mean battle mace.<p>

"You were actually in the Castle?" Giles asked, eyes wide in amazement. "And you spoke to the guardian spirit? Remarkable."

"Yeah, yeah, it was all that, but can we get back to the point? Zoar said this entire region here was created as a big jaw trap for Castle Grayskull, so I figure our cloaked friend must have been at this a long time. Like, since the town's inception?"

Giles nodded, already having several books at the ready. "I did some reading about this town ever since the Council learned of you moving here. It was founded in 1849, originally as a way station for the large number of settlers streaming into this region as part of the California Gold Rush. When California joined the Union in 1850 it was made into a town. There is still some mining being done in the region, though it has largely tapered off."

"Fascinating. Any actually helpful bits of info in there?"

Giles gave her a scolding look, but continued. "Not as such, I fear. There are no previous records of demonic or supernatural activity in this region that we know of. Some suspected half-breed creatures have been sighted in the Sierra Nevada, but those are scattered and unreliable reports. If some master mage has been at work behind the scenes here for a long time, he or she has been careful not to draw any attention."

She leaned back in her chair, sighing.

"Okay, so a big no on any lead regarding our big bad. Great. Anything we can do except for him to strike again?"

"Well, there is some good news," Giles remarked, causing her to perk up. "I have informed the Council of the attack and they have accelerated the formation and training of your Guard. They will arrive here within the next week."

"My Guard?" Buffy asked, confused. Zoar had said something about more allies, yes, but apart from that she didn't have a clue.

Giles shook his head. "I am sorry, I keep forgetting that Mr. Merrick didn't really have time to tell you much about the Eternal Council and how it supports the Champion of Grayskull. Briefly put, whenever a new Champion is discovered a special group of warriors is assembled, called the Guard. Their two main purposes are to shield the Champion from harm in their normal existence, as well as support them in battle."

Buffy huffed. "Well, that would have been nice to have when Merrick and I went up against Count Marzo all by our lonesome. Why didn't they come with Merrick?"

"They didn't exist at that point, I fear. Tradition mandates that each new Guard is hand-picked and specially trained for every new Champion. It is... unusual for a Champion to go directly into battle so soon after they are first given the power. We... we thought we had more time."

"Maybe your traditions need updating," Buffy said somberly, wondering if maybe Merrick's death might have been avoided if she'd had more back-up on that day.

* * *

><p>When the lunch break rolled around Buffy found that she could no longer avoid meeting up with Willow and Xander. Thankfully Jesse was with them, so neither of them broached the topic that stood like an elephant in the room while they ate. Unfortunately Jesse excused himself to try and talk up a girl – apparently one of the popular clique that kept humiliating and shooting him down, but it didn't dissuade him – which left about ten minutes of break time for Willow and Xander to talk to her in private.<p>

"Anything happen last night?" Willow asked excitedly.

"Look, guys," Buffy said, deciding to get things over with. "I find it great that you want to help, really. But you can't. So let's just leave it at that!"

"We screwed up, I know," Xander said, though the admission seemed to cause him some discomfort. "But we can't just sit by, knowing there is something out there and..."

"Xander, do you know who I am?" she asked. Not waiting for an answer, she continued. "I am someone who can magically transform into a super-strong, super-fast, super-tough warrior woman. I got the powers, I got a heap of pre-installed fighting skills, and I've also gotten quite a bit of real-world training in using them. And I still had a pretty hard time with those two guys that night. The two of you aren't trained and unless there is something you haven't told me, you don't have any magical powers, either. So the only things you're going to accomplish by going out to fight the bad guys at night is to get yourselves killed. And possibly me as well, if I have to watch out for you. Sorry if that's harsh, but that's the way it is."

Xander looked away, lips pressed tightly together, obviously not happy. Willow seemed about to burst into tears.

"But... but maybe we can help you in some other way? I mean, not trying to fight or anything but... isn't there anything we can do to help?"

Buffy opened her mouth to reply in the negative, but then stopped, thinking.

"Actually, there might be. You guys have been living in this town for a while, right?"

"Our entire lives," Xander said, putting a hand on Willow's shoulder. "Wills, Jesse, and me go all the way back to kindergarten."

"Okay, here's the deal." Without mentioning her nightly visit to Castle Grayskull, Buffy told them about their suspicion that someone had turned this entire town and the surrounding region into a big magical jaw trap for the travelling magical castle. And that it had probably taken decades, if not longer, to complete the requisite spell work.

"So whoever did that has probably been here a long while and unless he's spent the entire time lurking in a cave somewhere, that means he's been living here in the town. If you can bring me and Giles up to speed on the town history and, you know, families that have been around here forever, important figures of the public life, power players, stuff like that, maybe we can figure out who our big bad is."

Willow perked up so much she seemed to glow. "We can so help with that. My mom is the history teacher here at school and she knows tons of the local history and stuff. And Xander's family goes all the way back to the gold seekers that came here in the mid-19th century."

"Yeah," the boy added. "The Harris family was always big on looking for ways to get rich. Finding them? Not so much."

"Cool. Anything you can put together for me and Giles can help. But guys, I'm serious. Just the research part! Nothing else!"

"We promise," Willow quickly said. "Don't we, Xander?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"Good, now..."

Trailing off, Buffy suddenly stiffened.

"Buffy? You okay?"

But she barely heard Willow's words. There was someone else talking to her, wasn't there? She could almost hear a voice coming from... where did that voice come from? It sounded almost like it was inside her head.

_Buffy Summers,_ it seemed to say. _Buffy Summers, there is great danger abroad! The Champion is needed!_

"Zoar?" Buffy whispered, not quite believing it.

* * *

><p>Rupert Giles barely had time to at least roll with the blow a bit before he found himself airborne and crashing into one of the book cases of the library. Ancients, where had that brute come from? Surely a creature this big couldn't just walk through the corridors of a public school unnoticed.<p>

Two nights ago he had but briefly seen the Beast-Man as Buffy had fought it. She had already more or less disabled him by the time he had arrived, so he had focused on the cloaked one. Now, though, he wished he had spared some attention, because the orange-furred beast was towering over him, looking ready to make him a permanent part of the floor.

"Not so tough without your armor and mace, eh?" the beast growled. "My master needed no time at all to find you, Man-at-Arms!"

They really needed better cover identities or something, Giles muttered, even as he quickly rolled out of the way of a stomping foot that would probably have caved in his ribcage. His weapons were on the far side of the library. Might as well be on the moon.

"What do you want, creature?" he asked, hoping to occupy the creature, his eyes darting across the room looking for anything he could use in his defense.

"You know what my master wants, servant of Grayskull! Where is the Castle! Your Champion was there last night, my master felt it. Tell me where it is!"

Giles stared at the Beast-Man, defiance in his eyes. "Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you. Do your worst, half-breed!"

The Beast-Man advanced toward him and Giles uttered a silent prayer to whatever gods might be listening. A moment later his brows rose in amazement, for it seemed the gods had deemed fit to answer.

The Beast-Man, too, froze as, from just outside the building, there was the unmistakable sound of a bolt of lightning thundering down from the sky.

END EPISODE III


	5. Champions, Mages, and Beasts, Oh My!

Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull  
>Episode 4: Champions, Mages, and Beasts, oh my<p>

See chapter 1 for disclaimer!

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><p><em>The Beast-Man, too, froze as, from just outside the building, there was the unmistakable sound of a bolt of lightning thundering down from the sky.<em>

Two minutes earlier:

Buffy ran toward the school building, Xander and Willow forgotten for the moment. Zoar was talking in her head. Wow, that was a strange sentence right there. She didn't know how, she didn't know that she liked someone else being inside her head, but for the moment it didn't matter. Because not only had Zoar talked in her head, she had also shown her a vision. A vision of Giles in the library, being attacked by none other than her least favorite orange-furred half-breed jerk, the Beast-Man. She needed to help him and fast.

She would not lose another Man-at-Arms! SHE! WOULD! NOT!

Running past students that were slowly trickling back inside, she made record time towards her locker and quickly yanked out her big rucksack. Okay, where to now? The problem wasn't just that there were students about, but she was also indoors. The last time she had summoned the lightning of Grayskull inside a building she had blown up her old High School gym. Okay, that had been intentional... somewhat. Still, she had no desire to blow up this school unless she really, really had to. And certainly not while there were still people inside.

Running towards the rear entrance, she desperately hoped that Giles would manage to hold on. The doors seemed impossibly far away, no matter how fast she ran, and when she finally stepped outside it seemed to her that hours had passed, though it had probably not been more than thirty seconds. Still, a lot could go wrong in thirty seconds.

Ducking around a corner of the building, she quickly checked her surroundings. No students in direct line of sight, no cars passing on the street, no other buildings were somewhat might spot her from a window. Good enough, she hoped. Cursing the necessity even as her entire body tightened in anticipation, she slid the sword out from her rucksack and raised it towards the heavens in one smooth motion.

"BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!"

The lightning came, arcing down from the heavens, caught by the sword and running down her arm to surround her body. Her heart thundered, her blood boiled, her body changed and grew. The armor flickered into existence around her and her mind filled with the knowledge and experience of the Grayskull Champions. Her vision sharpened, her hearing increased, even the airflow against her skin seemed more real, more pronounced. And she could smell the foul presence of a Horde-tainted half-breed inside the school building.

"I… HAVE… THE POWER!"

The thunder had barely faded when the Champion started moving. Legs far longer and infinitely more powerful than before ate up the distance to the library in a few heartbeats and the students milling in the corridors, still stunned from the thunderous boom outside, barely saw more than a white and golden blur. The double doors of the library were torn off their hinges as the Champion didn't even slow down before barreling right through them.

Neither did she slow down much once she was past the door. The Beast-Man was there. In less time than it took to blink she registered his presence, saw him standing in front of an unarmed Giles, his claw raised for a decapitation strike, and decided on a course of action. Said course of action consisted of slightly changing her direction, not slowing down at all, and jumping into the air, extending her right leg forward.

The Beast-Man grunted in pain as his sternum came into painful contact with a boot heel impacting at several hundred miles per hour. A human being would have been pulverized, the Champion's boot going right through them, but the Beast-Man was made of far sterner stuff, so he just went flying right into the wall. Given that he was also made of sterner stuff than said wall, he went right through it. In a shower of plaster and brick he landed outside the school in a heap, in plain sight of several dozen students.

The inevitable screaming and panicked rush for safety began a moment later.

The Champion stepped through the newly created exit, giving only a brief glance to the students – all of whom were thankfully smart enough to just run, though she figured a few of them would hang around close enough to watch – she focused on the Beast-Man. He was struggling back to his feet, shaking off the dust and plaster. She had felt and heard at least one rib break, but doubted that it would slow the creature down much.

"How about taking on someone your own size, beasty boy?" she said, walking towards him. "Or are you still brittle from the ass kicking I gave you last time?"

"You got lucky," the brute growled. "Won't be so lucky again. I came prepared this time."

He snarled and suddenly the ground beneath her feet began to tremble. The California girl inside her thought "Earthquake!", but she dismissed the thought a moment later. It was too localized for that. A moment later the ground to her right bulged up, something big pushing out from underneath the earth. With a snarl somewhat similar to the one Beast-Man had just uttered, a creature broke free of the ground, a huge thing with mandibles and many multi-facetted eyes. Its head was as big as she was.

"Nothing as simple as a few cougars today," Beast-Man chuckled. "Say hello to my newest pet!"

Figures, she mused, that a Horde-tainted half breed who apparently had the power to control animals had more than run-of-the-mill forest beasts under his thumb. She made a mental note to ask Giles what other half-breed creatures the Council knew about that might turn up here in this region to give her trouble.

"You think you're really smart, eh?" she looked at the Beast-Man, who seemed really smug about his huge bug-worm-thing, whatever it might be called. "Thing is, I really didn't want to hurt those cougars just because you put the whammy on them. This 'pet' of yours, though…"

She focused on the creature for just a moment and yep, there it was. That icky, horrid feeling of a creature tainted by the power of the Horde. The Champion of Greyskull was the protector of the Earth and everything off the Earth. That which carried the taint of the Horde, though, descended from the original Horde demons, was fair game. Looking back at the suddenly somewhat uncertain-looking Beast-Man, she continued, "I really don't see any reason to hold back."

Surging forward, she came up underneath the emerging creature's giant head and let loose with a thundering uppercut. Her fist cracked the insectoid plates and the thing's head rocked upwards. She didn't let up for a second, slashing across the thing's exposed underbelly with her sword and slicing it open.

The bug-worm-thing made a pained sound, but it wasn't down for the count yet. More of its length emerged from the ground and wrapped around her body, clearly intending to crush the life right out of her. She hacked down with her sword, nearly cleaving the thing in half, and used every bit of her Grayskull-given strength to break its grip. Bits of bug went flying, juices squished, and the part of her that was just a girl was really disgusted, but the warrior pressed on.

The bug-worm thing was at least ten meters long and probably weighed at least a ton. She doubted anything less than a mini-gun or missile launcher could have cracked its hide. Less than a minute after it had emerged it was quite dead. Covered in bits and juices, the Champion turned to look at the Beast-Man again, who gulped audibly.

"You were saying?"

She figured the Beast-Man would either wise up and run or rush to the attack. Unsurprisingly he chose the latter option. Fortune smiled at him for a moment, at least, as she found her footing slightly unstable due to bug juice and couldn't meet his charge quite as effectively as she'd hoped. Rolling through the dirt with a seven foot 500 pound brute trying to skewer her was not her idea of fun.

"I will eat your insides," he growled and huffed, his claws swiping at her, his teeth snapping. He left several gashes on her upper arms, but received a painful blow to his side in return that threw him right off of her. When he got back to his feet she was already there, the flat of her sword hitting the side of his head like a hammer. Dazed, he stumbled to the side, trying to figure out where up and down was.

"Tell me where the castle is," he muttered, clearly confused.

"Boy, you're really task-oriented, aren't you?" she said, even as she kicked him hard in the head. He went down again, but still wasn't out. This guy could sure take a licking.

She picked him up by the scruff of his neck and threw him hard against the wall of the school building. He slid down into a sitting position and a moment later he gagged as she pressed her boot against his neck, pinning him in place.

"I think we were in a similar place before, weren't we?" she said, the tip of her sword just inches from his face. "Only I don't see your buddy anywhere this time. Now you tell me something. Where is he? Who is he? What is he? Get to it, beasty boy, or the next thing you'll feel is me snapping your neck!"

Something hit her from the side, throwing her off-balance. A moment later two more shapes assaulted her and even the tactically-enhanced brain of the Champion needed a moment to process what was happening. She was being attacked by dogs. A Labrador and two Beagles.

"Thank you for telling me about your reluctance to hurt innocent creatures," the Beast-Man growled, staggering back to his feet and massaging his bruised throat. She cursed internally, because he was right. She'd practically handed him a tactical advantage when she said that.

Carefully using only a fraction of her strength she threw the Labrador off, while the two Beagles kept snipping at her legs. She could hear more barking in the near distance. Apparently the Beast-Man was somehow using his whammy on every animal in the surrounding area. She didn't know how many dogs there were in Eternia Springs, but she figured there were a few. Plus cats, rats, and whatever else he could draw in from the surrounding forest. No telling what the range of his abilities were. She had to end this before he could assemble an entire flood of animals to bury her under.

The Beast-Man was back on his feet, but not rushing her again. Apparently he had wised up to the fact that he simply couldn't beat her in a straight-up fight, her strength and fighting skills vastly outclassing his. Despite his brutish appearance there seemed to be a brain in there as well. Which was not a good thing as far as she was concerned.

His eyes flickered toward the far end of the courtyard, where several groups of students were watching the action from the dubious safety of some bushes.

"Oh no, you don't!" she yelled, kicking the Beagles away with as little force as was possible, but he was already moving. And while he wasn't quite as quick as her, he could still move. Two great leaps carried him across most of the court yard. She moved as well, but the carcass of the bug-worm-thing was in her way and she needed a precious second to leap over it.

By the time she had cleared the obstacle, the Beast-Man was holding up two students by their necks, putting them between himself and her. She had almost expected them to be Xander and Willow after what had happened two nights ago, but thankfully her friends seemed to have wised up this time and were nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately the same could not be said for Jesse, who was desperately fighting for air as the Beast-Man's claws clenched tighter around his neck. She didn't know the other boy Beast-Man held up – a short, slightly pudgy guy - but it didn't really matter.

"Let them go or you're dead," she simply said, glaring at him.

"Don't try to fool me, Champion," Beast-Man growled. "You will not do anything that could endanger these innocents here. But I will agree to leave them alive if you tell me what my master wishes to know."

She saw movement from the corner of her eye, but kept her attention firmly fixed on the Beast-Man. "Okay, sure, why not. The castle is over on Main Street, between the bakery and the gas station. Just so you are not confused, though, they ditched the Grayskull name and call themselves White Castle now. I don't go there much myself, to be honest, a girl's gotta watch her weight, after all, but..."

The Beast-Man roared angrily, clearly not appreciating the joke. But in his anger he was distracted and didn't notice the armored shape coming up from behind him before it was too late. Giles, once again wearing the bronze-colored battle armor of the Man-at-Arms, swung his big battle mace two-handed and there was an audible crack as it impacted against the left knee of the Beast-Man. The creature roared, instinctively letting go of one of the boys to hold his knee. Unfortunately Jesse was still held up by his other claw.

Giles didn't bask in his success, but swung again, even as she started moving again to jump into the fray herself. The Beast-Man's head rocked to the side from the second impact of Giles' mace. Her eyes could see the muscles in his right arm contract and Jesse's face was turning blue, blood running down his neck where the Beast-Man's claws had already broken his skin. She had but a second left to act.

The sword of Grayskull flashed out faster than the eye could follow, a vicious arc that took the enchanted blade right through the Beast-Man's upper arm, parting flesh and bone without even slowing down. Jesse fell to the ground, the severed arm still attached to his neck, and she registered Xander and another student quickly scrambling forward to pull him out of harm's way. Good, finally someone was doing something smart around here.

"You will pay for this, wench," the Beast-Man roared, clutching the bleeding stump of his arm in agony. "I will send every beast of these mountains to rend your flesh! I will tear every mortal in this town apart in your name! I will..."

She swung the sword one more time and the Beast-Man's head fell off his shoulders, the words dying in his throat. A moment later the headless body slumped over, hitting the ground with an audible thud. Silence fell over the court yard.

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><p>Fifteen minutes later the school grounds were filled with paramedics and uniforms, the entire Sheriff's department having moved out in force. Deputies were trying to take statements, but the huge number of panicked students gave wildly different accounts of what exactly had happened. The only thing anybody could agree on was that some giant guy had attacked the school and a really tall woman rocking the Wonder Woman look had put an end to him.<p>

Buffy walked down the corridor to the school gym, which had been turned into an impromptu field hospital where the paramedics could take care of the students. Thankfully most of them suffered from nothing worse than a bit of shock and some bruises, almost exclusively caused by other students as they scrambled to flee in the face of a huge beast man fighting an amazon. She heard two students tell a deputy about how the tall woman had almost effortlessly hoisted up both the body of the decapitated brute and the carcass of the giant whatever-it-was that had burst out of the ground – just one hand each – and run off with them too fast for anybody to follow.

She wondered whether the sheriff would put out a warrant for Wonder Woman and an armored knight by morning.

Shaking her head, she sobered up. This was not a time for jokes. She had messed up. Well, almost messed up. Thankfully no one had been killed except the bad guy and his pet monster, but people had gotten hurt. And she still wasn't any closer to figuring out the identity of the big bad than before.

Entering the gym, she saw Giles standing with Willow and Xander.

"... taking him to the hospital right now," she heard Xander say.

"Jesse?" she asked, approaching. "Will he be all right?"

Xander and Willow turned towards her and there was that look of awe and wonder again. She was really starting to hate that look. It was tinged with worry, though, and a certain remnant of shock. Yeah, the floating sword at their own necks hadn't quite driven home the point, but seeing something else get hurt...

"You were so great out there," Willow began, "how you took that bug-worm apart in no time flat and had the Beast-Man on the ropes the entire time, but then he cheated and had those dogs attack you and thank you, thank you for not hurting the doggies, it wasn't their fault, but then that mean brute grabbed Jessi and Jonathan and now they're hurt and the paramedics had to put a tube in Jesse's neck." Willow started sobbing during that last part.

"Mr. McNally's throat has suffered some damage and he had trouble breathing," Giles explained. "The paramedics had to put a tube into his pneumothorax so he could breathe normally until they could get him to the emergency room. Quite a few scratches on his neck as well and he will certainly be bruised a lot, but nothing life-threatening, thankfully."

Buffy nodded, grateful that there seemed to be no permanent damage done.

"His parents are meeting him at the hospital," Xander said. "One less pair of completely frenzified parents descending on this school then."

"I thought my mom was gonna crush me, she hugged me so hard," Willow said. "She was so worried."

"I'm surprised she's letting you out of her sight," Xander said, only half-jokingly.

"She had to talk to the Principal, I figure they're gonna close down the school for a few days after this. Buffy, where is your mom?"

"Up in a chopper, flying tourists over the Sierra," Buffy explained. "She'll be home in about an hour or so, the Mountain Hopper people radioed her about what happened. They also let her know I'm all right, so she is only slightly panicked."

She was not looking forward to the inevitable conversation with her mom about today's events. While her mom would have no way of knowing that she was deeply involved in all of this, the fact that trouble had started up almost the moment they had hit town, especially after all the crap in Los Angeles, would certainly make her deeply worried and probably a bit suspicious, too. Mom was no fool, after all.

She noted that there was no mention of Xander's parents, neither from him nor from Willow. Well, a topic for another time probably, just something to keep in mind.

"Thanks for the timely assist, by the way," she told Giles. "Not sure how I could have saved those two boys without you."

"No thanks necessary," Giles simply replied. "You would have found a way, I am sure. But after that brute threw me around the library, it seemed appropriate to return a bit of the favor."

Buffy nodded, going over the fight again in her mind. Something troubled her, even as the extreme sharpness of thought she experienced as the Champion began to fade from her mind. In many ways the fight had been a repeat of her first encounter with the Beast-Man two nights ago, except for one crucial element that was missing.

"Giles, just thinking. Two nights ago the Beast-Man and his master – assuming the cloaked one is the master and not just another flunky - took us on together and didn't win. So why would the master guy think it a good idea to send beasty boy here all by himself?"

Giles considered this, brow furrowing in thought.

"They have deduced my identity as your Man-at-Arms, so the Beast-Man was looking for me. It is possible his master did not expect him to encounter the Champion of Grayskull again in the process."

"Maybe."

"Also," Giles added, "you hurt him by deflecting his own magical blast back at him. It is possible he is still recovering from that."

A thousand different thoughts went through her head. The scenarios Giles had painted were probable, yes. The fact that his identity as the Man-at-Arms was exposed also meant she had to be careful in her contacts with him, lest they figure out her identity as the Champion as well. But something still felt off to her. She didn't really think she had hurt the cloaked one that badly two nights ago. Certainly not bad enough that he would just sit back and let her take out his minion for no gain whatsoever.

And while he may not have necessarily expected the Champion to be here, he had to know that attacking the Man-at-Arms would certainly draw her out sooner or later. The fact that she'd just been around the corner might have been unforeseeable for him, but unless he was really stupid he had to expect her to come running and help out.

Which would make this a perfect distraction.

"Giles, I have to go check something! If I'm not back before my mom gets here, stall her somehow!"

She took off before he could reply.

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><p>One burst of lightning later the Champion of Grayskull was running at her best speed – which was quite a bit – towards the mountains and the Castle. It was just a hunch, no more than a guess really. But it fit. One big showy fight in the town, staged so that the Champion would certainly come running and be busy for a while. And while the cloaked one had apparently not known the exact location of Castle Grayskull two nights ago, he did know that it was somewhere in this general area. There were a dozen ways he could have found it in the time since, depending on what means he had at his disposal. Maybe he had helicopters or just a lot of guys scouting the area, maybe he had picked up that burst of magic when she opened the drawbridge last night, maybe he'd had her followed - he knew who her Man-at-Arms was, after all, so maybe he knew who she was, too - maybe some way she couldn't think of right now.<p>

_Zoar? Zoar, can you hear me?_ She really didn't know whether this whole mental contact thing was a two-way street, but it certainly didn't hurt to try. _Zoar, I fear the battle at the school might have been a distraction. Is anything happening at the castle?_

For a long moment there was nothing but silence, making her fear that no one was listening after all, but then the sharp cry of a falcon pierced the air above her. Looking up, she saw a red shape flying overhead, coming from the direction of the town and heading towards the castle as well. Zoar had been in town then? Just because of the battle or for other reasons? She hadn't given it much thought so far, but who said that Zoar just hung out at the castle all day long?

_Something has triggered the wards around the castle,_ she heard Zoar's voice in her head. _I fear you might be correct in your assessment of the situation._

"I really wish I'd not always be right about this sort of stuff," she muttered, still running as fast as she could and wishing for some kind of transportation. Even her ridiculous running speed only got her so far when she was running through a forest and didn't want to plow down half the trees.

_The castle wards are ancient and very powerful,_ Zoar said, sailing high above and apparently beginning to pull her seven-league-boots trick, because the landscape started changing faster. _The cloaked one will find it very difficult to get past them._

_I hope you are right,_ she replied. _But this guy spent decades building a snare to get the castle here. Do you really want to bet that he hasn't also put a bit of thought into how he'd get the door open once he succeeded?_

Zoar did not reply, but the landscape started shifting around her still faster.

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><p>The cloaked one stood in front of the skull-faced castle and chuckled in satisfaction. Everything was proceeding according to plan. Well, maybe not one hundred percent according to plan. The mystical trace he had on his brutish servant Beast-Man had abruptly cut off, indicating that Rqazz was now among the dearly departed. Well, it mattered little. Minions were easily replaced.<p>

He moved his hand in an intricate pattern and a moment later a shimmering barrier became visible, surrounding the castle from all sides. Powerful wards, he could see them now. Certainly detrimental to the health of anyone foolish enough to try and move past them. Unless, of course, one came prepared.

"All this effort for a moss-covered ruin?" a voice beside him asked, bemused.

"Do not let yourself be fooled by appearances, my dearest," he replied. "Our ultimate goal is within reach. You have what I asked?"

The woman beside him gave him a mock glare that seemed to say 'you really doubt me?' before reaching into the folds of her cloak. She removed a fist-sized jewel from some unseen pocket, colored an emerald green and carved to look like a ram's head. "The stone's keeper was somewhat reluctant to part with it, but I... convinced him."

The cloaked one eagerly took the large stone and held it reverently. "Ah, the Ram Stone. As beautiful as it was described. Time to see whether it's abilities match the description as well."

Holding the stone before him, he approached the castle gates. The moment the stone came into contact with the warding around the ancient structure there was a bright flash of light and the barely visible barrier before them vibrated as if struck by a giant hammer. For a moment a terrible strain made the very air sing with tension, then the tension snapped. The barrier faded out of existence and the light surrounding the stone faded again.

"It worked," the woman said, smiling.

"Of course it did, my dearest. BWA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAA!"

The cloaked one put the Ram Stone into the folds of his cloak, then held out a blue-skinned hand to his compatriot.

"Shall we, my dear Ms. Madison?"

Taking his hand, the woman smiled. "Why certainly, my dear Mr. Keldor."

END EPISODE IV


	6. Mastering the Universe

Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull  
>Episode 5: Mastering the Universe<p>

See chapter 1 for disclaimer!

_The cloaked one put the Ram Stone into the folds of his cloak, then held out a blue-skinned hand to his compatriot._

_"Shall we, my dear Ms. Madison?"_

_Taking his hand, the woman smiled. "Why certainly, my dear Mr. Keldor."_

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><p>This would have been the perfect moment for a heroic sound bite, she mused. Something like "Hold it right there, creeps!" or "You'll only get in there over my dead body!". A small part of her actually felt an almost overwhelming compulsion to utter something like that, just for the hell of it. Millennia of fighting experience in her enhanced mind told her what an utterly bad idea that would be. Facing two bad guys, one of whom was very powerful and the other a complete unknown, who didn't yet know she was there, the last thing she would want to do is announce her presence.<p>

_You said you only have powers inside the castle, right?_, she projected at Zoar. _So if I occupy them long enough for you to get inside, you can... blast them or something?_

_Once I can access the power inside the castle again, I will do my part_, Zoar replied. _Both the intruders seem powerful mages, though. I believe both of us must do our utmost here today to defeat them._

_Wasn't planning on anything less,_ she simply thought back.

Even as she ran towards the castle and the two figures standing before the opening drawbridge, she took time to study them. The cloaked one was as she remembered him, a big guy whose features were completely obscured by his swirling cape and hood. There had to be some magic to that, she mused. No real cape or cloak flowed and swirled that way all by itself. Anyway, she knew he packed quite a punch with that ram-headed staff of his.

The other intruder was a woman, that much she could see even from behind them. She, too, wore a dark cape of some kind, but for her it seemed to be more fashion accessory than identity-concealer. Were dark purple capes required in whatever bad guy club they were member in? Come to think of it, Marzo had been fond of the big flowing cape, too, though in his case it had been more of a "see how nicely it frames my perfectly-defined chest" thing. Anyway, she had no idea as to the capabilities of the woman, but she had to assume she was at least as powerful as the cloaked guy.

High overhead she could see Zoar circling, ready for a power dive right into the crenels of the castle the moment the attackers' attention was diverted. She increased her running speed and drew her sword from the sheath on her back. Best case her 'diversion' would consist of two knock-out blows right to the backs of the attackers' heads, but she figured it wouldn't be quite that easy.

Of course it wasn't. She was still well over 500 meters away when she saw the cloaked one begin to turn around, obviously having picked up on her presence somehow. Quickly calculation, she decided that the odds of closing into hand-to-hand combat range before he had completed his turn and would blast her with his magic were pretty bad, she quickly switched strategies.

"My, what have we..." the cloaked one began, as he saw her from the corner of his eyes, but she had already jumped off, arcing through the air, and hit the ground… fist first.

The force of the impact caused a seismic wave that tore up the ground and took the two attackers off their feet, incidentally interrupting the cloaked one's intended sound bite in the process. She smirked. Goes to show that dramatic Hollywood-type scenery-chewing had no place in a real fight. By the time the two attackers had gotten back to their feet, Zoar was already diving toward the castle and she was now within striking range.

The two of them were too far apart to hit simultaneously, so she attacked the known threat first while keeping an eye on the woman. She threw her left first forward with enough force to shatter a brick wall. The cloaked one somehow managed to get his hands up in time, so instead of pulverizing his sternum her fist impacted against a mystical force field of some kind. Still, even magic couldn't neutralize physics entirely and the force of the impact sent him flying backwards, away from the castle entrance, with a decidedly audible 'Ooooff!" on his part.

She had kept the broad side of her sword between her body and the woman, which turned out to be a good idea. She had about half a second to take a closer look at her – in her late thirties, pale, hair a blonde that was almost white – before she raised a staff of her own and a blast of magical energy came directly toward her. She intercepted it with her sword, but sadly the angle was all wrong or she could have sent it right back at her. Still, having the energy harmlessly dissipate into the air was preferable to being roasted.

She stomped her foot on the ground, causing another localized tremor, and by the time the woman had regained her balance, she was right in front of her.

"I'll be taking that," she simply said, snatching the staff out of the woman's hands. While the mages she had encountered so far had certainly been far from helpless when disarmed, the removal of their focusing tool usually meant they had a lot more difficulty blasting her.

"If you think I need my staff to..." the woman began, but she didn't intend to let her finish. Pulling her strength just enough, she chopped the woman's neck and sent her tumbling to the ground, very much unconscious. At full strength she would have beheaded her as surely as her sword did to the Beast-Man earlier, but she wasn't about to just kill off everyone she encountered before getting a better idea of what was going on here. Besides, they could use someone to question.

A noise behind her made her turn around and she got her sword up just in time to intercept a powerful blast of energy that might well have cut her in half otherwise.

"You are good," the cloaked one said, standing some distance away, tendrils of smoke rising from the head of his ram-staff. "And no misguided sense of fair play, either. I like that."

Focusing on her opponent, she kept her sword up and looked for an opening. "Good for you. I think you already know who I am. Champion of Grayskull, a.k.a. the one who is going to kick your ass. Care to let me know who you are before I get on with that?"

The cloaked one chuckled. "Oh, I go by many names. You, though, you can feel free to call me... MASTER. Soon to be MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAA!"

She raised an eyebrow. "You don't have much in the way of self-confidence issues, do you?"

"Not as such, no. Shall we?"

"Let's!"

In an unexpected move he grabbed his swirling cloak and tore it off, giving her a good look at him for the first time. Yikes, he really did have blue skin. Did that mean he was another Horde half-breed? He looked human otherwise, though. Long black hair streamed from his head, a rather good-looking face of a man in his mid- to late thirties, and he was sporting a moustache that couldn't have been more Hollywood villain if he tried.

"A twirly mustache? Really?"

He simply shrugged, the staff in his hand never wavering. "I believe it adds a certain sense of style. Let's dispense with the banter now."

And then he moved. Wow, he could move. She figured he had to mystically enhance his speed somehow, because there was no way anyone could move that fast otherwise. Except her, of course. He jumped off, soaring through the air like a character in an Anime, and his ram-staff swung around to blast her. She easily caught the blast with her sword, aware that the true attack was imminent. The sword that the self-styled 'Master' had carried on his back unsheathed itself and came flying towards her like a dart.

She swung her own blade, looking to cleave it into pieces, but at the last moment the sword suddenly split into two separate blades that arced around and came at her from each side. At the same time her foe had touched the ground again and was readying another blast, making this a three-pronged attack. Wow, he was really stepping up his game.

She dove forward and rolled, allowing both swords and the energy blast to pass harmlessly over her head. The moment she was back on her feet she struck out with her sword, sensing the air disturbance, and one of the flying blades shattered into fragments as she caught it. The other was still there as well, though, and she had to roll again or risk being skewered.

Another energy blast came at her, this time coming in low. She jumped up, the ground underneath her being blasted into glass, and reoriented herself. Her foe was keeping his distance, seeing that he had a definite edge in ranged attacks. Powerful and smart. Not a good combination to have in an enemy. The remaining sword hovered by his side, the glowing head of his ram-staff swished back and forth as he tried to faint her out.

The ground rumbled suddenly and they both looked toward the castle. The drawbridge was closing once more and a flicker of energy seemed to play around the structure. The warding was going back up, she realized. Zoar was inside and rebuilding the castle's shattered defensive barrier. Well, she would have preferred some more direct assistance than that, but her foe looked decidedly not amused.

"No, not when I was so close," he yelled, reaching into the folds of his cape. Something glittered in there, a fist-sized jewel. Probably the magical gadget he had used to break the barriers in the first place. Well, whatever it was, her foe had finally made a crucial mistake.

Never take your eyes off your opponent in a fight.

Darting forward she threw her big sword like it was a throwing knife. The magical blade seared through the air and the tip hit the jewel with the force of a guided missile. The trees around them shook as the jewel practically exploded in the bad guy's hand, accompanied by a huge bang and a flash of light so bright she had to look away.

"NOOOOOOOOOO! The Ram-Stone!"

The so-called Master looked down at his hand, scorched from the explosion and with tiny shards of crystal sticking out of his blue skin. Without looking away she reached out to snatch her sword from the air. It always returned to her, no matter how far she threw it. No getting rid of it, a tiny voice at the back of her mind supplied, but she ignored it. There was more important stuff going on.

"Do you know how long it took me to find the Ram-Stone?" blue guy asked, sounding decidedly pissed off that she had wrecked his precious. "The one artefact in this world that can break any barrier? Open every door? And YOU RUINED IT!"

Apparently forgetting that he should have kept his distance, he rushed forward in a mad dash and swung his ram-headed staff at her like a club. She brought up her sword to block him, stumbling back a step at the surprising strength behind the blow. Magical enhancement, had to be. He was muscular, but she could bench-press trucks without breaking a sweat.

For a moment the two opponents strained against each other, a combination of magic, rage, and leverage giving her foe the strength to match hers. He wasn't playing it all stupid, though, as she caught a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye. Yep, there was that flying sword again. So she suddenly let herself fall backwards, grabbing her foe's staff in the process, and sent him flying with a boot in his chest in a textbook move every Judo instructor would have loved. The sword seared through empty air and blue guy hit the ground with a mighty oomph.

"You won't get into the castle," she said, standing back up. "One chance to surrender, blue boy. I won't ask again."

"Surrender? SURRENDER? I AM MASTER HERE! I DON'T SURRENDER!"

Oh, oh. He started to sound seriously unhinged. He rushed her again, his staff blazing with unleashed power. She swatted his staff side with her sword, but that left her open to a thundering kick. He hit her in the midsection with enough force to shatter a normal human and it left her gasping for air for a moment. He raised his staff, intending to bring it down on her head, but she quickly evaded the potentially lethal blow and rolled away, regaining her breath.

He was upon her once again, though, not letting up. For the first time since becoming the Champion of Grayskull she was actually hard-pressed to hold her own as he rained down blow after blow, not giving her an opening to attack. She blocked every single attack with her sword and her bracers, but he was forcing her back step by step into uneven terrain. A single slip of footing could be lethal in his fight.

Still trying to figure out a way to regain the offensive, she suddenly received aid from an unexpected quarter. A blast of pure white energy hit the ground directly before her foe's feet, distracting him for a crucial moment. She wasted no time to capitalize and let loose with a massive kick of her own. Somehow blue guy managed not get snapped in two, but he stumbled back and she had definitely heard at least two ribs break. His staff slipped from his hands and she wasted no time, her foot still in the air, to kick it away from him. Before he could recover his balance, she whirled around and her fist smacked directly into his face.

His nose shattered, blood ran down his face, and he fell backwards. With breathing room finally hers, she took a moment to glance toward the castle and saw Zoar, now in human guise, stand directly in front of the once again closed draw bridge, hands still glowing with white energy.

"Nicely timed," she simply said, approaching her blue foe, who was trying to clamber back to his feet. "Had to wait for the most dramatic moment, eh?"

"Restoring the castle's defensive barrier was most important," Zoar simply replied. "Now we should make sure our foe can no longer..."

Zoar was suddenly cut off when a blast of purple energy hit her from behind. She screamed in pain, smoke rising from her body, and collapsed like a puppet with her strings cut, the white fire in her hands going out. Shocked, the Champion looked over to where the formerly unconscious female mage had risen to her feet once again. Damn it, she should have been out for hours from that chop. Given the obvious physical enhancements blue guy had, she really should have considered that the woman was using something similar. Another rookie mistake.

"Zoar," she yelled, beginning to run over to the woman, but the female mage was quicker. Standing over the fallen guardian of Grayskull, she aimed her recovered staff directly at the back of Zoar's head.

"Not one step further, Champion," she ordered. "Unless you want to take out an ad for a new castle keeper."

"Took you long enough," blue guy muttered, having struggled back to his feet and trying to staunch the flow of blood from his shattered nose.

"I don't see you looking so hot either, mister," she replied, snarling. "Quit complaining and get over here!"

The woman never took her eyes off her, which really didn't leave her many options. She was fast, yes, but she was far enough away that the mage would certainly manage to get off a blast before she could reach her. Throwing her sword might work, but it was a fifty-fifty chance at best and would leave her weaponless with blue guy still in the picture, broken nose or not. She really needed a brilliant idea and quick.

"Now seeing as you broke my Ram-Stone," blue guy said, stepping up besides his female partner, "I really need some reimbursement here. Two options, Champion. One, I slaughter your little guardian spirit here right before your eyes. Or two, you use that fancy sword of yours to open up that castle for me. You have ten seconds to decide!"

Her tactically enhanced mind worked overtime trying to find a solution. Letting these people into the castle was a definite no. She didn't know what exactly they intended to accomplish, but anyone calling himself 'Master of the Universe' couldn't be up to any good. Letting them kill Zoar was not in the cards, either, no matter that she wasn't yet sure she even liked the guardian spirit that much.

She was standing about forty feet away from her two opponents. The female mage still had her staff trained on the back of Zoar's head, while blue guy was watching her intently. The seconds ticket away. There really was but one thing she could think of. It was the same trick she had used against Marzo during their final battle and it had blown up the school gym and almost killed her in the process. Still, she was running out of time.

"Time's up", blue guy said. "What will it be, Champion?"

"Fine, have it your way," she said, raising the sword. "This will just take a second."

The first time she had pulled this trick had been pure desperation and she had been far from certain it would even work. It had, barely, so she hoped she could pull it off again. The Sword of Grayskull was basically a really fancy and powerful energy conductor. It could summon, absorb, and redirect ridiculous amounts of power. First and foremost the power of Grayskull, of course. Using the magic words she could summon a huge bolt of lightning that, running down the length of the blade and into her body, would transformer her into the Champion.

She didn't know what exactly it was that made her worthy of wielding the power and becoming the Champion, but she did know it didn't work for anyone else. The sword would not summon the lightning for any other person. And only she could use said lightning to transform.

To anyone else, it was just a huge, powerful, and extremely destructive bolt of lightning.

"BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!"

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as her reflexes kicked into overdrive. She had to time this just right. The bolt of lightning came, trusty as always. It arced down from the sky, aimed directly at the tip of her sword. When she transformed she held it straight up, but now she angled it. The bolt hit the broad side of the blade and she moved her wrist in just the right motion. She could not have explained how she did it exactly and any physicist in the world would probably have kittens at the very notion that something like this were even possible, but it was.

The lightning, instead of running down the length of the sword and into her body, deflected off the blade and shot straight towards her two enemies.

Time resumed its normal flow and everything started happening extremely fast after that. Seeing that a bolt of lightning was a really hard thing to aim and she had no intention of hitting Zoar with it, she had tried her best to 'aim high' and more towards blue guy, who was standing beside the guardian spirit instead of directly above her. The female mage reacted, maybe warned by magic, maybe just a gut feeling, and had started moving a heartbeat before the lightning bolt started coming toward them. It gave her but a fraction of a second, but that, combined with the fact that the bolt was not directly aimed at her, allowed her to escape the brunt of the calamity.

Her blue partner was not so lucky.

He had somehow gotten his hand up, she had no idea how. A purple glow surrounded it and it took the brunt of the lightning. A part of the devastating energy deflected off to the side, setting fire to a tree. It was too little, too late, though. The lightning bolt smashed right through whatever energy field he had hastily assembled and hit him right in the face.

A terrifying scream of pure agony echoed through the forest and made even the walls of Grayskull tremble slightly. The blue man's hair and cape caught fire as he stumbled back, his hands desperately trying to quench the inferno that was his face. He kept screaming, no idea where he got the air from with his mouth consumed by flames, but the sound of agony didn't cease even for a moment.

She collapsed to the ground, completely spent for the moment. This was what made this maneuver so dangerous. The lightning was what gave her the power. Summoning it again when she was already transformed left her all but helpless for a precious minute or so until her energy levels 'reset', so to speak. Not that the self-styled 'Master' was in any shape to take advantage of it, but the female mage was staggering back to her feet. Her entire right side was an angry red, like a really severe sunburn, and her clothing was smoldering, but she seemed otherwise unharmed.

"KELDOR!" she screamed, running towards her companion, completely forgetting about her enemies for the moment. The burning man screamed and staggered, unaware of his surroundings, and she had to duck to evade a flaying hand. When he finally collapsed the ground, his head still in flames, she knelt down beside him.

She turned to look at the Champion, her eyes blazing with anger.

"You will pay for this, you bitch! YOU WILL PAY!"

A blazing corona of power surrounded her and the Champion tried to braze herself for an attack as best she could, but it was unnecessary. A flash of light later there was no trace to be found of either attacker. They were just gone.

Carefully struggling back to her feet, she felt her strength slowly returning. For a moment she just stood there, senses sweeping the surrounding area, but everything was quiet. Taking a deep breath, she quickly ran over to the still motionless form of Zoar, kneeling down beside her.

"Zoar? Zoar, can you hear me? Are you all right?"

The guardian spirit groaned, slowly rolling onto her back and blinking up at her.

"I am alive, that must suffice for now, I think," she said groggily. "Who did... where are the attackers?"

"It was the female mage that sucker punched you. She recovered much quicker than I anticipated. But we're good for now. She is gone."

"And... and the other one?"

The Champion looked over to where the blue man had fallen, small pieces of his cape still smoldering amidst the scorched earth.

"I don't think we need to worry about him again anytime soon."

END EPISODE IV


	7. Endings and Beginnings

Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull  
>Episode 6: Endings and Beginnings<p>

See chapter 1 for disclaimer!

* * *

><p><em>The Champion looked over to where the blue man had fallen, small pieces of his cape still smoldering amidst the scorched earth.<em>

"I don't think we need to worry about him again anytime soon."

* * *

><p>By the time Buffy made it back to school – once again back in her own flesh and hoping to stay that way for a while, thank you – the place was still a bee hive of activity, though a lot less chaotic by now. Most of the ambulances were gone, the people who needed it having received medical attention by now. The people from the sheriff's department were still present, though in somewhat reduced numbers, probably still taking wildly incongruent witness statements. Two fire trucks were present, though there was no fire, probably going over the damaged walls to ensure the school wouldn't collapse.<p>

Had it really just been two hours or so since the attack of the Beast-Man on the school? It seemed so much longer to her, considering everything that had happened. She'd completely lost track of time.

"Buffy," someone yelled.

Looking to the right, Buffy saw her mom coming towards her, still wearing her Mountain Hopper cap and T-shirt. Buffy suspected that only some stern words from her bosses had prevented her from just setting the helicopter down here in the school yard instead of landing it on the air field and coming here by car. Running to meet her, the two met in a crushing hug.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm so glad you're all right. When they radioed me that something had happened at the school…"

"I'm all right, mom. I was nowhere near the action." Which was true, in a way. Buffy Summers hadn't been anywhere close to the fighting. She had been… absent.

"God, and I was so hoping for some time of peace and quiet," her mom continued. "But first those hooligans two nights ago and now this..."

Buffy let her ramble on, just enjoying having her mom's arms around her after the day she'd had. So much had happened in so short a time. Being forced to become the Champion not once but twice in one day, fighting two difficult battles in the span of less than two hours, and finally ending up killing two... well, not people, necessarily. Two living beings. Well, one was definitely dead, what with having no head anymore, and the other was probably dead. Almost certainly. She doubted even a blue-skinned mage jacked up on magical steroids or whatever he had used to almost match her strength and speed could survive a lightning bolt to the head.

There was a strange sort of dichotomy in her mind right now. As the Champion she had been utterly and completely certain that she was doing the right thing. That these... things... needed to be ended to ensure the safety of Castle Grayskull and, by extension, the world. There was no hesitation, no doubts, no second thoughts. Now, though, as little old Buffy Summers, she had to deal with the fact that she had chopped the head off one guy and fried another one's with a bolt of lightning.

She was not looking forward to tonight's dreams. Nope, not at all. She was still having nightmares about the final showdown with Marzo, she really wouldn't have needed any new material.

"Ah, Ms. Summers," a voice drew her out of her funk. "Is... is everything all right?"

She looked up to see Giles standing there, looking at her and her mom. Right, he couldn't really just come out and ask whether her hunch had been right and there had been something going at that mystical castle in the woods with her mom standing right there, though she could tell he was just itching to know what had happened. Not for the first time she wished that she could just tell her mom everything, but considering all that crap that had happened after the Marzo thing... no, she wouldn't risk that again. She had already lost one parent, she would not lose her mom as well.

"Just fine, thanks," she simply said, hoping he got the message. "The others all right, too?"

"Most certainly, yes."

"Buffy?" her mom asked, looking pointedly between her and Giles.

"Oh, sorry. Mom, this is Mr. Giles, the school librarian. We... some friends and I were with him when that... whatever it was happened. Mr. Giles, this is my mom, Marlena Glenn-Summers."

"Charmed," he simply said, shaking her hand. "You have a really brave and resourceful daughter there, Mrs. Glenn-Summers. She really kept her cool during the incident and helped get her fellow students to safety. You can be proud of her."

"Uh, thank you," her mom said, looking at her with a proud smile.

"No big," Buffy just said, blushing a bit. She knew exactly what Giles was praising her for and she was not sure she really deserved it.

"Now," Giles went on, "I'm afraid we are left with something of a mess here, so I'll be returning to work. I, ah, I wish you both a restful evening."

He began to leave and her mom turned away from him to look at the mess surrounding them. Seeing that Marlena's attention was temporarily diverted, he just gave Buffy a nod and said "you did good" in a low voice before leaving. He did have a library to get back into shape, after all, never mind the new door to the outside she had made earlier.

Looking across the school ground, she saw Willow standing with a red-headed woman that was probably her mother, who gave her a big hug. No sign of Xander, but she figured he was with his parents as well somewhere around here. If they had come. She remembered the distinct lack of presence and mention of his parents earlier. Well, that was a topic for another day, if it was one at all.

"How about we head home, mom?" she asked, giving Willow a wave before turning away. "I'm really beat."

"Will do, kiddo."

Walking over to the parking lot arm in arm, Buffy felt somewhat relaxed for the first time since she got here. The bad guys were beaten, her new friends were safe, and she was with her mom. Okay, she would have vastly preferred if all this had not happened in the first place, but given the alternative, things were pretty okay. She just hoped the nightmares might give her a time-out until tomorrow or so. She could really do with some sleep.

"I think they'll probably be closing down the school for a few days, don't you think? Just to make sure everything is safe and all."

"Don't get your hopes up, young lady," her mom laughed.

* * *

><p>Willow's head was still spinning from everything that had happened these last two days. Meeting Buffy, finding out that her new friend was some kind of mystical warrior, almost dying, and now worrying about Jesse, who was in the hospital at this very moment being treated for the wounds that big meanie had inflicted upon him. Some part of her felt sorry for the big orange brute and the way Buffy – or rather the amazon that Buffy became, she wasn't exactly certain whether they counted as one person or two, to be honest – had almost casually beheaded him, but that part was in the definite minority. The Beast-Man had tried to hurt her friends. She didn't have many of those, so she was okay with almost everything that made sure none of them came to harm.<p>

One thing was for certain. Some bad stuff was going on here and she wanted to help Buffy and Mr. Giles. She wasn't yet sure in what way, given that she had been less than useless the other night when that cloaked guy had taken her hostage, but if there was one thing she was, it was determined. She would find a way to help. Buffy had already asked for her help in researching the town and the older families and such in order to find out who had turned this entire region into a big trap for that magical castle she so hoped she'd get to see one day. She would start with that.

And maybe she could figure out why the sight of Buffy in her transformed state had made her feel so... excited. She quickly rejected the obvious implications, focusing on her life-long crush on Xander instead. It was all in the wonder and excitement, she resolved. Nothing to do with the fact that the Champion-Buffy was so incredibly…

"You ready to go home, honey?" her mom asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Yeah, mom, let's go," she replied, kind of thankful that someone had broken her train of thoughts.

Her mom wrapped her arm around her shoulders, but when Willow moved her arm around her mother's back in return, she flinched as if in pain.

"Mom? Are you all right?" Willow panicked, quickly removing her arm. "What happened?"

The older Rosenberg woman just shook her head, giving her a big smile. "Nothing serious, honey. I think I bruised my back a bit earlier when there was the big stampede of panicked students and teachers. Nothing a good long soak back home won't cure."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"I am honey. Oh, I almost forgot. I got something for you."

Her mom took something out of her pocket. It was a necklace of some sort. The pendant was a falcon's head with two red feathers attached. It looked almost Native American, but not quite.

"What is that?" she asked, puzzled. The pendant almost seemed to shimmer with some inner light of some sort.

"Just something I picked up the other day. It's a charm, supposed to protect a loved one. After what happened today, I'd like for you to wear it at all times, honey."

Willow nodded, though she was slightly confused. Since when was her mom superstitious like that?

* * *

><p>"Do you have a minute, Mr. Giles?"<p>

Giles looked up, surprised to see Xander stand in the broken doors of the library. He had assumed that the boy would be in the hospital to check up on his friend Jesse or at home with his parents.

"Given the state of this place," Giles said, making a sweeping gesture to encompass the wrecked library, "I do believe it won't matter whether I start cleaning up now or ten minutes from now. It will still be a rather long venture. What can I do for you, Mr. Harris?"

The boy seemed uncertain and fidgeted from foot to foot. Giles could guess that he wasn't here about normal school stuff. Xander had made more visits to the library these last two days than in the entire school year before that, he ventured.

"What Buffy said earlier," Xander began, "I hate to admit it, but she was right. Will and I... we didn't really do much of anything the other night except endanger her life and our own. But the thing is, I want to help. Especially after what happened today. Jesse got hurt. A lot more people could have gotten hurt if it hadn't been for Buffy. And you, too."

Giles simply looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Buffy called you her Man-at-Arms," he went on. "And you had that bronze battle armor and mace... and you really looked like you know how to use it. So... I guess what I'm asking is... how does one become a Man-at-Arms?"

Giles' eyebrows shot up. He certainly hadn't expected that question. Studying the young boy fidgeting before him, he said "before I answer your question, Xander, may I ask one of my own?" At Xander's nod, he continued. "Are you certain this… inquiry of yours has not just been brought about by the fact that the young Ms. Summers is a very attractive girl... who can magically transform into a stunningly beautiful woman?"

Xander opened his mouth in an automatic denial, but shut it again, pondering the question for a moment. "I... well, I would probably be lying if I said that wasn't also an issue, yeah. I... I like Buffy. I really wouldn't mind if she liked me, too, but... it's not just about that. I really do want to help. I can't just... pretend there is nothing going on and continue life as usual. Something bad is happening here in my home town, people are getting hurt, and I want to help. I can't just sit by."

Giles studied him for another long moment, but while the boy was clearly nervous, he didn't run off or anything. He stood his ground and met his gaze. Giles hadn't known the boy long, but from what little he had seen he had determined that Xander had the makings of a good man, though like so many teenagers these days he utterly lacked the motivation to actually make something of himself. Maybe by being involved in these unfortunate events he had found the needed drive? Well, there was but one way to find out.

It wasn't the usual recruiting procedure of the Council, that much was for sure, but from what had happened these past few days he was pretty certain he could throw out large portions of the rule book already. Besides, he got the feeling the young man would try to involve himself in some way regardless, so it was far better to keep an eye on him, if only to prevent another occurrence like two nights ago.

"Very well, Mr. Harris. If you really do want to help in the fight against the Horde breed, I can put you on the proper path. I have to warn you, though. One does not become a Guardsman of Grayskull, not to mention a Man-at-Arms to the Champion, overnight. It takes dedication, commitment, and time. You will certainly not be fighting at Buffy's side anytime soon, not before both she and I decide that you are ready. Are you certain you wish to undertake this journey?"

Xander nodded, his eyes firm.

"Good. Then we can begin your training by having you help me clean up this mess!"

Xander groaned, but nodded.

* * *

><p>Jesse McNally woke with a start, covered in sweat. He was still in the hospital after that... that thing, whatever it had been, had attacked the school and almost killed him. A half-crushed throat, bruises aplenty, and deep scratches around his entire neck had ensured that his stay would be at least a few days and given him plenty of nightmare material to boot. Given that context, he couldn't even properly fantasize about the gorgeous amazon woman who had saved him.<p>

The doctors said he would be just fine, though. He didn't feel fine, not in the least, but they said he would be. It would take some time for the scratches to heal and for his throat to work properly again, but in a few weeks it would be as if nothing had ever happened, they said. He would be just fine.

Massaging his temples, Jesse didn't feel fine. Not at all. He felt entirely not-fine, in a completely different time zone from fine. His body seemed to be burning up, no matter how often the nurse who took his temperature said that he was just imagining it.

And there was this constant noise that no one but him seemed to hear. The doctors said it was all in his head, that there was nothing to hear. But he heard it almost constantly now. Like a choir of animal voices, howls and growls, all coming together inside his head. As if every beast of the surrounding forests were trying to gain his attention all at the same time.

He was so preoccupied with the noise inside his head that he didn't even notice that he was finally starting to grow chest hair. Quite a bit of it, actually. And with an orange tint to it.

* * *

><p>Marlena Glenn-Summers looked in on her daughter and found the teenager fast asleep in her bed. It had certainly been a tiring day, small wonder the girl was out like a light despite it being just ten in the evening. Buffy also hadn't looked like she'd gotten a good night's sleep the night before, so she was probably pretty exhausted.<p>

Carefully moving away from the door, Marlena walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch, deep in thought. She had been so worried when she had received that radio call, especially seeing as she was flying over the Sierra Nevada at the time, at least thirty minutes away from the air field and another ten minutes by car from the school where her girl was in danger. She had imagined a hundred different scenarios of what might have happened to her while doing her utmost to get there as fast as she could. She was quite sure those tourists she had ferried would never book a flight with her as the pilot again.

From what the school people and the sheriff had said a vandal hooked up on Speed or some other drug had busted into the school and started breaking things. It certainly sounded plausible at first glance, but it didn't really match up with the damage she had seen in the building. Jacked up on drugs or not, she doubted any man could simply bust that big a hole into a brick wall, no matter how shabbily constructed it might have been. And it also didn't explain why so many of the students insisted they had seen a tall woman chopping off the guy's head, not to mention those stories about a huge bug thing. Panicked people were prone to get confused and make things up, yes, but on this scale? And so many of them?

Marlena's mother hadn't raised any fools. She knew something more was going on here. Was it connected to all that trouble in Los Angeles? God, she hoped not, but the fact that things had started happening here only days after she and her daughter had arrived was a bit too much of a coincidence for her taste. But what could it be? Had something or someone followed them from LA? If so, why? Why would anyone want something from her daughter or herself? She couldn't think of any reason for it.

Not for the first time she wished that Randolph was still here. Yes, she was a tough-as-nails ex-military chick, expert pilot and modern woman, all that jazz. She was also feeling quite alone and out of her depth and could really do with a loving and supportive husband by her side right now. Well, there was nothing to be done about that. Randolph had decided that chasing after the ghosts of the past was more important than his family in the here and now. She would have to live with that, no matter how difficult it turned out to be.

Moving over to her desk, she carefully unlocked the top drawer and opened the small gun safe that was inside. She took out her gun and made sure it was in working order and loaded. She resolved to visit the sheriff's office tomorrow to get a concealed carry license issued. She had lost more than enough already. Nothing and no one would be allowed to take yet another family member from her. Never again! She would die before she allowed that to happen.

* * *

><p>San Francisco<p>

The sign on the door merely read "Dr. Arnim Zodak, Psychologist", looking no different from the signs adorning the doors of a thousand other shrinks across the country. The man entering the small office was not here to look for psychological help, though there were no doubt quite a few people who thought he could use some. No, he was here looking for services of an entirely different kind.

He was greeted by a large dark-skinned man who looked nothing like one imagined a psychiatrist to look like. This man looked more like a professional quarterback than a doctor, to be honest. It was hard to determine his age, he could have been anything from early thirties to mid-fifties. His head was shaved and while there were no wrinkles on his face, his eyes looked incredibly old.

"May I help you?" he asked in a deep, almost booming voice.

"I certainly hope so," the man said, closing the door behind him.

Dr. Zodak studied him for a moment, his eyes appearing to see much, much more than merely the outer appearance of his visitor.

"You are not here for a counselling session," he stated. It was not a question.

"No, I am not. I have been... looking for someone of your… specialized talents for the last few months. You are not an easy man to find."

The smallest of smiles graced the lips of the dark giant. "That is entirely intentional, I assure you. I prefer to work... in subtle ways."

"I can imagine."

"How about we sit down," Dr. Zodak said, gesturing towards a pair of chairs next to a small coffee table, "and you tell me what exactly it is you need my... special talents for, Mr…"

"Summers," the man said, sitting down. "Randolph Summers. And I was wondering what you could tell me about a place called Despondos."

* * *

><p>~ From the journal of Buffy Anne Summers ~<p>

_"You can be proud of her," Giles told my mom. I know he meant it as a compliment about the way I handled the attack and clued in on the fact that it was a distraction, but there was also an undeniable undertone of 'I told you so' in there. Yes, I have taken up the sword again. And again. I have done my duty as Champion of Grayskull, no matter how often I said I wanted no more part of it. So obviously I was wrong in thinking I wasn't cut out for this, that it was too hard. It wasn't that hard to become HER again after all, was it?_

And he is right, of course. Drawing the sword, raising it above my head, and calling down the power, that's not hard at all. In fact it's almost ridiculously easy. And then, then I'm her again. The Champion. I really should think of a cool name for her, shouldn't I? Champion or Her sounds so simple. But then again, everything is simple when I'm her.

Giles no doubt has endless literature about the Champions of Grayskull and what happens to them when they call down the power and transform into their warrior form. Maybe past Champions tried to explain it to their Men-at-Arms, I don't know. I do know, though, that none of them are capable of understanding what it's like. Because it's not something you can really understand from merely being told.

I am her and she is me. There is no alternate personality, no possession, no exterior force influencing my actions. The power of Grayskull switches out your weak mortal body for another, much more powerful one, but it doesn't give you a new mind to go with it, not like that. Instead it... sharpens, it distils, it files away the rough edges and burns away what isn't needed. The Champion is me. The me I would be if I were perfect. If I didn't have any insecurities, flaws, fears, and all those other things that every single person in the world carries around with them every single day of our lives, teenagers more so than any others. And it's normal to have these flaws and fears. And everyone deals with it. Well, almost everyone. Some don't, but most people in the world, they can deal with having fears, flaws, and insecurities. Just part of being human.

Most people in the world, though, don't know how it feels to have the power of Grayskull thundering through your veins and burning away all those things. They don't know how amazingly awesome it feels to become the Champion. To be so utterly certain, so powerful, so righteous, so damn PERFECT, without and within!

And none of them can even begin to understand how it feels when the power returns. When the lightning and thunder fades and the Champion goes away and I become little old Buffy Summers again. Buffy Summers, flawed Californian teenager. The real me. The lesser me.

Giles will never be able to understand that it's not becoming the Champion of Grayskull that I fear. Nor the responsibility, nor the fighting, not any of that. It's becoming Buffy Summers again that I fear. That feeling when the world dims, the certainty fades, and everything becomes... mundane again. When I become mundane again.

And I fear, more than anything, that one day I won't want the power to fade. I won't want to become Buffy Summers again.

END EPISODE VI


	8. Bad Wolf

Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull  
>Episode 7: Bad Wolf<p>

See chapter 1 for disclaimer!

* * *

><p>"So I was looking at any family that has been in this town for at least the last fifty years," Willow began, "seeing as Zoar said that whoever made Eternia Springs into a big jaw trap for Castle Grayskull must have been at it for at least a few decades. I have also tried to find news and articles about any unusual happenings centered on this town and boy, there are a few, believe me."<p>

"So what did your search uncover, Willow?" Giles asked, gently trying to guide the babble-prone young woman toward the intended topic of this meeting. A week had passed since the attack on the school and the realization that this town and the surrounding area had been specifically prepared as a ritual ground to ensure that the mystical keep of King Grayskull would manifest here and stay here for quite some time. Giles had the entire research wing of the Eternal Council looking for clues as well, but from what he had seen so far the young Ms. Rosenberg seemed determined to outperform them all.

"Well, first off, there are but a handful of families that have been around here for ages. About three dozen or so, many of them in positions of authority. I managed to find pictures of most of the male adults in the right age bracket – mid-twenties to late forties – online."

"I already looked through them," Buffy added, leaning against the library table beside Willow, who was typing away at her computer like there was no tomorrow. "None of them resemble the guy in blue, not even slightly. So that's a bust."

"It would have been nice had it been that easy," Giles said, "but I expected as much. Even if the 'blue guy', as you so aptly named him, was the head of this, eh, operation, so to speak, he might well have been using a magical glamour to disguise himself in his public persona. Considering the power he displayed, it would have been easy for him."

"Yeah, I think we would probably have noticed someone with blue skin walking around town," Willow agreed.

"A decided lack of long Conan-like hair and twirly mustaches, too," Xander added.

Buffy shrugged. "Well, it would have been nice to learn more, but considering I blasted his face off with a bolt of lightning, I doubt he'll make a return appearance."

Giles could hear the slight undertone in Buffy's forced casualness as she talked about the end of her fight against the blue-skinned mage and his companion. Still a teenager, he reminded himself, no matter how she looked and acted when she was the Champion. It couldn't be easy to have been forced into such actions at so young an age and with so little preparation for her sacred birthright.

He had had a long conversation with Buffy about the fight and the aftermath the day after it happened. The duties of a Man-at-Arms were many, after all. He was to watch her back in a fight, to provide her with any and all information she might need, and also to serve as confidant and mentor. Sadly the young Champion was still somewhat reserved when it came to him. He didn't take it personally. The loss of Duncan Merrick was still an open wound for her. Trust needed time.

"Let us hope that is the case," Giles said, forcing his thoughts back to the matter at hand. "Either way, though, it would be prudent to find out more. As things stand Castle Grayskull's current situation leaves it vulnerable to attack and there will be others looking to tap into the power of the Horde or worse, maybe even look for a way to open the barriers to Despondos and let them out."

Personally he couldn't think of any reason why any sane being would want that, even those whose heritage could be traced back to the original Horde demons. A world ruled by the Horde would not be a pleasant place for anyone who was not pure Horde. History was rife with examples, though, of half-breeds and humans who were eager to liberate the Horde from their prison, for whatever crazed reasons they would do so. They had always run afoul of the Champion of Grayskull. And always would.

"You mentioned quite a few unusual incidents in the area, Willow," Giles brought the conversation back on track. "I imagine the numbers would have started to increase visibly at whatever time our mysterious host began to prepare his working here in Eternia Springs."

"I ran a statistics program over the data I collected," Willow explained, "and you're right. I mean, you have your normal share of strange stories as far back as there are newspapers and such and given the vast increase in data sources in the last few decades that kind of falsifies any long-term trends, of course, but from what I'm seeing here the Springs has seen quite the sharp increase in stuff like strange accidents, suspicious deaths, and weird sightings since around 1920."

"Care to give a few examples, Will?" Buffy asked. "I mean, are we talking sasquatches, UFOs, big hairy orange brutes, what?"

Willow pulled up a few pictures on her computer. "Oh, the Beast-Man guy, yeah, it seems he's been around these parts pretty much forever. There are descriptions of 'crazed' settlers reporting a huge orange-furred beast as far back as 1880. A few blurry photographs from the 80s and 90s are in here as well, though no one except a few tabloids were really all that interested in them. I also found two articles that might well refer to that bug-worm thing he had with him when he attacked the school, but whether it's the same one or just the same species… anyway, Eternia Springs has very little in the way of UFO sightings – we're far below the national average for that – but when it comes to people seeing strange monsters and such in the woods, we're pretty high up the list, actually."

Giles nodded. "That does make sense. Many of the Horde-breed prefer wild, mountainous regions in the first place. And given the amount of magic that must have been worked into the ground here, it would certainly attract quite a few creatures to these parts, even if they were primitives at best and not in any way directly involved with the working."

"So we might have our fair share of murderous and monstrous critters around these parts," Buffy summarized. "Just wonderful."

"We certainly have," Willow went on, clearly too excited by all that she'd uncovered to notice the far from enthusiastic tone of Buffy's voice. "I mean the number of people reporting attacks by unusually aggressive wolves alone are far above what's normal even for the Sierras. In fact... oh."

"What is it, Will?" Buffy asked, leaning forward.

"I... I didn't check the dates earlier. That report here about an attack by a crazed, possibly rabid wolf pack... it's from yesterday. They attacked a group of campers. One dead and... oh my God."

"What is it?" Giles asked, moving closer.

"Two children are still missing," Buffy said, reading over Willow's shoulder. "I remember, mom said something about the US Forest Service hiring all the choppers from Mountain Hoppers for a search operation. I... I didn't really listen this morning."

Xander looked over Willow's other shoulder to study the report as well. "Man, that sucks. But... I mean, it just says attacks by wolves here. That could be just… you know... an attack by wolves. Nothing demonic or anything involved."

"The reports say the wolves were unusually large and had, quote, really funky glowing eyes," Willow read. "But... yeah, okay, panicked people sometimes imagine stuff, I know. So, how do we know whether this is something… you know, Grayskull-y?"

"Does it say where the attack took place, Willow?" Giles asked, looking over at the large map of the surrounding country that adorned one wall of the library with Eternia Springs at the center.

"Let me see, it says two miles north of... that would be here then ... and the camping area is... right here." She touched a spot on the map.

"Of course," Buffy huffed.

"What?" Xander asked.

Walking over to the map, Buffy pointed to a nondescript spot just to the west of where Willow had indicated the attack took place.

"That's where Castle Grayskull is," she said, sounding resigned. "A.k.a. the spot every self-respecting Horde-breed is looking for." She looked at Giles. "I'll go get my sword."

* * *

><p>"I'm just saying, having some means of transportation would really speed things up here."<p>

Giles was very much exasperated with his young charge at this point.

"Buffy, I really don't understand why you would even need any kind of motorized transport. As the Champion you can run at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour and..."

"Over flat, even terrain, maybe," she interrupted him, huffing as she climbed over another big tree trunk. "Not in a dense forest, I can't, unless you want me to flatten half of it. And besides, I'm not the Champion now, am I? Little ol' Buffy needs some way to get from A to B as well."

Giles was actually wondering why she had decided to remain in her mortal form at this time, seeing as she was obviously out of breath by this time. He himself was in much better physical shape than his charge, at least as long as she was not calling forth the power of Grayskull, and even he was getting a bit winded by now. They had been hiking through the Sierras for over two hours, after all. While Buffy was not out of shape by any means – she had been heavily into gymnastics at her old school, after all – she was still a city girl out of her element.

He didn't ask the question out loud, though. Buffy clearly had quite a few reservations about her role as Champion of Grayskull and Giles had begun to suspect there were more issues involved than the heartache of losing Duncan Merrick and the break-up of her family after the battle against Count Marzo. Something about becoming the Champion obviously deeply disturbed her and she would only raise the sword and call on the power if there was no other way. He hoped that they could build enough trust between them soon that she would feel comfortable confiding in him about it.

"Be that as it may," he said, climbing after her, "but in a terrain such as this even a motorcycle or one of those strange four-wheeled contraptions..."

"A quad, Giles. It's called a quad."

"... would hardly be of any use to you. The only transportation of any kind that would be of any use here would be a horse, I believe..."

She beamed at him. "Oh, does that mean you'll get me a pony?"

He groaned. "No, that is not what I said."

"Oh, puh!"

They walked on in silence for a few minutes until they finally reached a large clearing. There, right in front of him, was a place that Rupert Giles, Man-at-Arms, had only ever read about in ancient tomes and dusty books. It was everything he had read and more. The giant skull face carved into the façade, the jaw bridge, the rough walls made from uncut stones. The legendary Castle Grayskull, keep of King Grayskull, who had freed the Earth from the bane of the Horde. Even in ruin, covered in greenery and obviously neglected, it was beautiful to him.

"Extraordinary," he said, burning the images into his memory.

"Yeah, it's really Grayskull-y, I know," Buffy said. "I've been trying to get in contact with Zoar the entire way here, but it seems she isn't home. Probably in town somewhere."

"In town?" he asked. "I assumed that the guardian spirit of Grayskull was, eh, bound to the castle in some way."

Buffy shrugged. "I'm not sure. She did say her powers didn't work outside the castle, but she never said she was hanging here all the time. When I faced blue guy a week ago she came rushing in from the town, so I think she's got a pad or something there. Who'd want to hang out in this dusty old place all the time if you can avoid it?"

He refused to admit that it made a certain amount of sense.

"Should we... I mean, do you think we should take a look inside?" he asked.

She gave him a long look. "You do know we are here to look for possibly demonic wolves and lost children, right? Not for a grand tour of the magical mystery castle."

"Eh..."

She broke into a smile. "Relax, Giles, I'm just kidding. If you want I'll give you the tour later, but first we should really check out whether there is anything honky going on around here."

He nodded, barely able to contain his excitement at possibly entering the hallowed castle. Many a Man-at-Arms in history had written about accompanying their respective Champions to the castle, but there was no record of any of them ever having entered. He was unsure whether that was because they hadn't entered or they had for some reason decided not to write about the experience. Still, he was very much excited.

First, though, the more immediate problems.

"We should do a standard perimeter around the castle then," he said, tearing his gaze away from the sacred place before him.

"Lead the way, trusty Man-at-Arms!"

Ignoring the teasing tone in her voice he started walking, eyes darting back and forth, looking for anything untoward. Castle Grayskull had manifested at the very edge of the Sierra Nevada where the landscape began to tilt noticeably upward and the forest slowly began giving way to a more rocky terrain. It almost melted into the landscape and he was quite sure that, seen from above, it would look like just another rock formation. Come to think of it, it looked that way from most angles down here as well, as they circled it.

Still, there were many, many trees here. Lots of places to hide.

"Wait," Buffy suddenly said, causing him to still. "Do you hear that?"

He concentrated and a moment later he heard it, too. A very, very faint sound that stood out amidst the normal sounds of the forest. It sounded almost like... a sobbing child.

"It's coming from this direction," he said, quickly leading the way again, Buffy two steps behind him. As they made their way towards the source of the sound, he noticed that it was beginning to grow darker around them. The sun was already pretty low in the sky and he estimated they had, at best, an hour or so of daylight remaining before it became very, very dark. He had a flashlight with him, just in case, but still, he would much prefer not to extend their stay here into the hours of night. A mountain forest was not a safe place at night, even discounting the presence of the Horde-breed.

"It's getting louder," Buffy said behind him. "What were the names of the missing children?"

"Marie and David, I believe."

They came upon the roots of a large tree and Giles could see a small shape that was doing its very best to hide among the big roots. Considering the circumstances, he stayed his distance a bit and motioned for Buffy to go ahead. As things currently stood she was by far the least threatening-looking of them.

Buffy nodded, slowly moving forward, crouching down to appear as small and harmless as she could.

"David? Marie? Everything is okay; we're here to bring you home."

Giles could just see a small head emerge, dirty blonde hair framing a very young face. A girl, as best as he could tell. One with very wide, very scared eyes.

"There still out there," the girl said, still sobbing. "I was running and running, but I could still hear them behind me."

"There is nothing here right now but us," Buffy said, trying her best to sound soothing as she scooted closer. "We'll keep you safe, I promise. Lots of people are looking for you, Marie. That's your name, right? Marie?"

"Y-Yes."

"Think you can come out here to me, Marie? It's a bit too narrow where you are for me."

Giles kept his eyes on the surrounding forest, sure that the girl was in capable hands for the moment. He was very aware of the lengthening shadows and as he strained his senses it just seemed... quiet. Too quiet, to coin a cliché. On the way here they had heard the occasional animal sounds, bird calls, chirping insects. Now, though, an eerie silence seemed to settle over the surroundings. Every gut instinct told him that they should not stay here much longer.

"Buffy, I believe we should hurry," he said in a low voice.

* * *

><p>Buffy heard the warning tone in her Man-at-Arm's voice and she, too, could feel that something was wrong. It had less to do with her heritage as Champion of Grayskull, she wagered, than evolutionary instincts existent in every human being. Something was approaching, something that a sane human being would not want to encounter in a forest that was slowly growing dark.<p>

"Marie, we really need to get you home now," she said. The blonde little girl had wedged herself deeply into the exposed roots of the giant tree, a space just large enough for her tiny body. Buffy was far from a big girl herself, but she couldn't reach her unless the girl moved at least a little bit toward her. Problem was, she was scared completely out of her wits.

"They're still out there," she sobbed, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. "They killed daddy when he was trying to protect us. They're going to kill you, too."

Buffy's heart clenched hearing those words. "I know how it feels to lose a daddy," she told her. "It's really a terrible thing, I know. But your mommy is still out there, Maria, and she is really worried about you."

God, she hoped she wasn't lying here, but the report had said just one dead, right? So if she saw her daddy killed – something that no little girl should have to see, ever – that had to mean her mommy was still alive, right? God, she hoped so.

"But they're still out there," the girl sobbed, still not moving.

"Just one more reason to get out of here, Maria," she said, smiling at her. "Look, we can get you out and even if they are still out there, there is this big castle just a few minutes away. We can go in there and be safe from them."

"A... a castle?" the girl asked. "Like in the fairy tales?"

"Yep, a really big castle with a big drawbridge and everything. No way is anyone going to get us in there, I promise you."

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the girl started moving toward her, still clearly frightened, but obviously having decided to trust her. She just hoped she didn't disappoint her. Finally the girl was within reach and Buffy quickly took her by the hand, just in case, and helped her get out from the roots.

"Now don't be frightened, there is a man out there with me. His name is Giles and he's my... well, my big, strong bodyguard, okay? He'll make sure nothing happens to us on the way to the castle."

"O-okay," the girl said, allowing herself to be drawn out of her hiding place. When they were finally out, Buffy quickly lead her over to Giles, who was wearily scanning the surroundings.

"Marie, this is Giles. Giles, this is Marie."

"Hello, Mr. Giles," the girl said, still clearly frightened.

"Hello, Ms. Marie. Nice to meet you. We should go now, though. This is not a safe place for young ladies such as you, my dear."

Seeing that the girl was shaking so badly she could barely stand on her own two feet, Buffy quickly decided to just carry her. Marie wasn't a toddler anymore, but she wasn't so large that Buffy couldn't lift her. Heaving her up on her hip, she quickly motioned for Giles to lead the way and they headed back towards Castle Grayskull. Secret magical keep or not, with the way Buffy's stomach was cramping with dread she had no qualms about opening the drawbridge for a strange kid and her Man-at-Arms. If Zoar didn't like it, she could just ask her to turn in her front door key.

They made best speed through the forest and Buffy became acutely aware of the deep quiet that had settled over them. Nothing good ever came of a silent forest, she believed. It meant that everything with even a lick of sense had taken off for safer grounds. Well, they would soon be safely ensconced inside a magical castle with its own mystical force field. What could be safer than that?

Then she started hearing it. Something was moving through the trees. Several somethings. And they were both to their left and their right. Rapidly overtaking them. Cutting off their route to safety.

"Giles," she began.

"I can hear them," he simply replied, drawing his mace from his backpack. He had foregone his bronze battle armor for this trek, probably because it weighed quite a bit and would have been rather impractical for hiking through the woods, but he had brought his weapon, thankfully.

She became astutely aware of the weapon she had brought, resting snugly against her spine. Only problem was she had two arms full of scared little girl. Made reaching for the sword a bit difficult right now.

"Take Marie," she ordered Giles, running up closer to him. Giles was big and strong enough to carry the girl with one arm, she hoped. Her Man-at-Arms quickly complied, knowing why she wanted her hands free. Marie squealed a bit as she was rather roughly handed over into the arms of the much bigger man, but right now Buffy didn't have time to be gentle.

She could hear too many paws for that, not to mention quite a bit of growling by now.

Quickly drawing the sword from her spine sheath, she took just a moment to glance over towards Giles. Seeing that he had Marie safely in his arm and looking the other way, she raised the sword to the heavens and mentally prepared herself for the onrush of power.

"BY THE POWER OF…"

Something hit her from the side before she could finish the words and the sword tumbled out of her hand. She sensed more than saw something huge and hairy above her and quickly rolled to the side, a big paw hitting the ground where her head had been a moment ago. Where had the damn sword gone? Usually she couldn't get rid of the damn thing if she tried, but when she needed it...

Looking up, she saw a sight that made her freeze in terror. A huge grey wolf was less than three feet away from her. No way was that a natural wolf, her common sense immediately supplied. She had seen a documentary about the Grey Wolves of California, the few that remained, and they were around a hundred pounds, usually, and no more than 3 to 4 feet in length. That thing that was right in front of her, though, had to be at least twice that mass, covered in fur so dark a grey it looked almost black and with fangs that seemed more at home in the Pleistocene epoch. Also, she doubted those blood-red eyes were entirely natural.

Where was the damn sword?

The wolf moved and Buffy saw her life flash before her eyes, certain that it would kill her. Something else happened, though. Something very much unexpected. A second wolf appeared from out of nowhere and tackled the one bearing down on her. Still frozen in shock, Buffy could only watch as her savior – a somewhat smaller, much more natural looking wolf – tried to close its jaws around its much larger opponent's throat. The element of surprise was gone, though, and the much larger demon wolf – for what else could it be? – quickly swiped at his smaller adversary, throwing him aside. Four bleeding gashes adorned the smaller wolf's flank.

From the corner of her eye Buffy saw a glint of metal over to her left and it broke her shock. Scooting over as quickly as she could, her fingers closed around the hilt of her sword. Wincing at the canine sound of pain behind her, she quickly raised the sword.

"BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!"

She had never been quite so relieved to see the bolt of lightning coming down from the sky and hitting her sword. The energies of Grayskull flowed through her body, burning away the aches and pains from the flight through the forest, and as she rose to her feet she was taller, stronger, and ready to kick some ass.

"I… HAVE… THE POWER!"

She quickly assessed the situation. Giles was some distance away, using his mace to keep another wolf at bay. Two more were coming toward her, obviously having judged her the greater threat. And one, her attacker from earlier, was standing over the crumbled body of the wolf that had come to her rescue, something she still didn't quite understand. Whatever the case, though, she was going to return the favor.

"Hey, doggie!" she yelled, running towards the large beast. "You leave my friend there alone or I'll..."

She had her sword out in front of her in attack position, ready to skewer the demonic creature in one quick motion, but something else happened. As she moved the tip of the sword was for the briefest of moments pointing directly toward the smaller wolf. And in that exact moment a bolt of energy was suddenly released, arcing out from her sword and hitting the downed creature. She stopped, confused, and thinking that she had just flash-fried an innocent creature that had saved her life less than a minute ago. Only she was wrong.

Because what happened next was even more extraordinary.

END EPISODE VII


	9. Good Wolf

Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull  
>Episode 8: Good Wolf<p>

See chapter 1 for disclaimer!

* * *

><p><em>As she moved the tip of the sword was for the briefest of moments pointing directly toward the smaller wolf. And in that exact moment a bolt of energy was suddenly released, arcing out from her sword and hitting the downed creature. She stopped, confused, and thinking that she had just flash-fried an innocent creature that had saved her life less than a minute ago. Only she was wrong.<em>

_Because what happened next was even more extraordinary._

* * *

><p>She had never before seen this particular sight from the outside. Sure, she had been the recipient of the power of Grayskull many times now, had felt the effect of the transforming lightning on her own flesh. But she had never seen it happen to somebody else before. And certainly not a four-legged someone.<p>

The lightning bolt released from her sword was a good deal smaller than the one she had used to flash-fry blue guy's face, but it should still have sufficed to kill just about any living thing it hit. The wolf that had saved her life wasn't killed, though. Quite the opposite. The lightning surrounded its grey-furred body and the wolf grew larger. In less than a second it was easily twice as large as the demon wolf that had thrown it around like a toy, as big as a riding horse. It also looked strong and ferocious enough to take on a demon wolf pack all by itself.

"Wow," she said, looking at the giant wolf her sword had somehow created. "That never happened before."

"What is going on," Giles asked, still busy fending off one of the demon wolves himself.

"I... I'm not sure, Giles, but I think... I think I just found a new friend."

The giant wolf her lightning had created proved her words right a moment later, swatting aside the demon wolf that had just used him as a chew toy with ease. He then threw his head back to let loose a tremendous howl that sent the other demon wolves scurrying for cover.

"Nice," she said, even as she ran to the aid of her Man-at-Arms. Having time to really focus on the attackers for the first time, she definitely picked up the tell-tale stink of the Horde-taint. Whatever these things were, there was nothing natural about them. Which left her with no qualms to put her sword to good use.

One swift sword-strike later she had cleaved the wolf attacking her friend in half. Looking back, she saw that her new buddy had effectively squashed another one, while having knocked at least two more aside like toys. The wolves, apparently deciding that there was less lethal prey to be found somewhere around here, chose the better part of value and retreated into the underbrush.

She remained crouched for a long moment, sword in hand, scanning the surroundings with all of her mystically enhanced senses. The putrid aftertaste of the Horde-breed was slowly receding. They seemed to be safe for the moment. She rose, putting the sword back into her spine sheath.

"I think we're clear for the moment," she told Giles.

"Uh, B..., I mean, milady, there is a very, very large wolf right behind you."

She smiled at Giles' fumbling not to reveal her name to the child in his arms, who certainly had other things on her mind right now, while at the same time slightly miffed that he was once again calling her 'milady', which he knew she hated. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the giant wolf coming closer to her.

"Don't worry, Giles. He's on our side."

"Are... are you certain of this?"

The wolf came up to her and she raised her hand, scratching it behind one huge ear. The wolf tilted his head to allow her more access.

"Pretty certain. He saved my life, Giles. And I don't think the Sword of Grayskull would give a power boost to just any old doggie that came along."

Giles' eyes widened, as he was obviously trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened.

"You mean... I saw and heard the lightning bolt, of course, but I didn't see... it did... this?"

"Yeah, it did," she replied, her hand still in her new friend's fur, looking into those big wolf eyes. She tried to remember what she knew about the behavior of wolves in the wild. Was meeting their eyes a good or bad idea? She really didn't know off the top of her head.

"Thank you for saving me," she just said. "But why did you? You risked your own life for mine."

Suddenly her head seemed to swim a bit and she could feel some kind of connection forming between her and the wolf, somehow carried across the power they shared. She could feel his thoughts, though they were hardly thoughts in the way humans thought of them. His mind was a jumble of impressions, smells, basic concepts of survival, hunting, and pack. She could feel his sorrow as the idea of 'pack' went through her mind. Images of blood and dead bodies, sorrow of family lost.

"Those demon wolves?" she asked, trying to interpret the impressions she got. "They attacked your pack, didn't they? Oh, you poor thing. They killed all of them except you, didn't they? Only you got away and you've been following them ever since."

A profound sense of loneliness, so strong it nearly made her cry, impressions of running through the forest all alone, looking for revenge, looking for some sort of purpose in a life where everything he knew had been taken from him. Wolves weren't meant to be alone. Then coming upon this battle, seeing the demon wolves that had taken his family about to take another life. A strong sense of purpose, he wouldn't allow that to happen. Not again. Never again. Not even if it killed him.

"Thank you, my friend," she said, rubbing her face against the giant wolf's flank. "You did save me. I'm really in your debt."

More impressions, pain from the battle, determination even in the face of death from the far, far stronger foe. Then the light and the power. He didn't understand it, but he knew it came from her. Made him strong. Made him able to kill the slayers of the pack. Enemies of the new pack. Enemies of his alpha.

She smiled, even as she blushed a bit at the idea that the wolf now considered her his new alpha. "You got a new pack, my friend. I promise you."

"Eh, are you... are you talking to it?" Giles asked.

She glared at him. "He's not an 'it', he's a he. And he saved my life, and by extension yours as well, so show some respect, okay?"

He raised his hands, taking a step back. "I didn't intend to offend, sorry. I was just... I am just amazed. You somehow transferred a portion of the power of Grayskull onto this…, this wolf. This is unprecedented, I believe."

"Don't ask me," she just said, shrugging. "I have no idea how and why this happened. I'm just glad it did."

"Is that... is that your doggie?" a small voice asked suddenly.

Reminded of the presence of the girl, she turned to look at Marie, who was trying her best to crawl into Giles' chest, it seemed. She was looking at the giant wolf with some trepidation, but she seemed to understand on some basic level that he wasn't one of the monsters that had taken her daddy from her.

"Yes, Marie, he's my friend. He's not a doggie, though. He's a big, big wolf. A good wolf, though. Not a bad wolf."

The wolf growled in agreement, letting his tongue hang out. Marie actually managed a small giggle.

"I think we should bring Marie home now, Giles," she said. "And then..."

"Wait," the girl yelled. "What about David? We've got to find David!"

Right, there had been two missing children. They had only found one. Another one was still out there along with at least a few of those demon wolves. Not to mention that there were no doubt quite a few Park Rangers and volunteers still out there looking for the missing children, not a clue that they were heading into very, very dangerous circumstances.

"Okay, Marie. Giles here will take you home. I and my new friend here will go look for your brother David." Having an idea, she added "you don't happen to have anything belonging to David on you, do you? Something my friend here could maybe use to track him?"

The girl thought hard for a moment. "Uh... Davie loaned me one of his gloves when mine got ripped." She pulled off her right-hand glove and handed it over to her.

"Think you can work with this, buddy?" she asked, holding the glove under the wolf's nose. Truth to tell she wasn't sure how good a wolf's sense of smell rated against a dogs, but she figured it couldn't be that bad. The wolf sniffed, then yelped in what she figured was an affirmation.

"Okay, Giles? You take care of Marie."

"Gladly, milady," he said, smirking a bit. Yep, she hated it when he called her that, but with her true name being out of the running... she really needed to think of a good name for herself when she was in this form. If only so Giles wouldn't have any more opportunity to call her 'milady' ever again.

"Get rid of the smug, old-man-at-arms!" she grumbled, even as Giles led Marie down the slope and back towards civilization. She turned to look at her wolf buddy.

"Okay, wolfy, lead the way. I'll try my best to keep up."

He gave a long look that seemed to communicate his doubt that she could. Looking at his long legs, she kind of doubted it himself, ability to run at 200 miles per hour or not. Jacked up on the power of Grayskull Wolfy was probably at least as fast as she was and given that he had four legs to run on, plus being kind of evolutionary designed to hunt in forests, he could probably outpace her with ease. And speed could be essential. And looking at how big he was compared to her, she really would like to...

"Or I could... you know..."

The wolf rolled his eyes and made a short motion with his head, telling her to just get on.

"WHEEEEEEE!"

The Champion of Grayskull did not make such noises, that much was for sure. No way, no how, not ever. Hers was a sacred birthright and all, one girl in her generation worthy to wield the sword of the legendary King Grayskull and call upon his power to defend the world from the evil taint of the Horde. That did not go together with "WHEEEEEEE!", not even slightly.

"WHEEEEEEE!"

She was sitting on the back of a horse-sized wolf, her hands clenched into the fur of his neck to hold on. Wolfy was speeding through the forest at speeds she knew she couldn't have matched on her own two feet, all the while searching for the scent of a lost little boy and keeping an eye out for demon wolves, too.

"I completely renounce my plans for a dirt bike or a quad," she resolved. "I don't know how this happened, Wolfy, but I bow before the superior wisdom of the powers of Grayskull."

Suddenly the wolf paused, his nose close to the ground.

"You got something?" she asked, now completely serious.

He just yelped in reply and took off, even faster than before. She did her best to just hold on and prepared herself, for while she couldn't trace the scent of a lost child, she was fully capable of sensing the taint of the Horde-breed that were coming closer once again.

* * *

><p>Marlena Glenn-Summers had a very, very bad feeling about this. She couldn't really say why. So far everything seemed to be going relatively well for a change. After nearly a full day of flying, including two refueling stops, they had apparently finally lucked out. A couple of volunteers had called in, saying they had found one of the missing kids. The boy, David, was alive, but injured, so they were asking for a chopper to fly him out as the far better alternative to carrying him for two hours plus over rocky terrain in what would soon be complete darkness and aggravating his wounds along the way.<p>

Marlena had been closest. Truth to tell she had been about to head in as well, seeing as the sun was quickly dipping below the horizon now. Sure, she could fly in the dark with instruments, but the odds of spotting something down there in that mountainous forest were going from pretty bad to impossible. And landing, don't even get her started on landing. She could do it if she had to, but no pilot really wanted to land his chopper on uneven, unknown terrain in the dark if it could be helped.

Thankfully it wasn't full dark yet and the volunteers had marked the clearing where they were to rendezvous with flares. If they could just get this over and done with before the sun fully set and the place would drown in pitch darkness, she'd be fine.

She had a very bad feeling, though. She'd flown rescue operations in the Middle East and evacuated wounded soldiers under fire. She'd flown ambulance choppers into gang territory in LA to fly out shooting victims while a gang war was going on just one street corner away. So yes, she knew bad feelings. She knew them in spades. And she was having them right now.

Setting the chopper down in the clearing, she quickly scanned the surroundings. The tree line was pretty close, the clearing being just big enough for her to attempt a safe landing. She could see the two volunteers, one of whom was cradling a small bundle in his arms. She quickly took off her head set and, after making sure she had her gun safely tucked into her shoulder holster, stepped out of the chopper.

"Bring him here," she yelled over the noise of the spinning rotor blades.

The man who carried the boy came over, ducking under the blades, and carefully deposited his precious cargo on the floor of the chopper's passenger cabin. Mountain Hoppers didn't really do medical evac all that much, so their choppers were a far cry from the specialized rescue craft Marlena had flown in the past, but they did carry standard first aid equipment. Marlena got a warming blanket out from under the seats and wrapped it around the boy, checking him over in the process. She was paramedics trained, after all. The boy had several gashes that were just beginning to scab over, as well as quite a number of bruises. He also looked exhausted as hell and was probably seriously dehydrated after more than a full day on his own, lost in the woods.

"We taped over the worst of the cuts," the man told her, "and got some fluids into him, but I think he needs to be in an emergency room as soon as possible."

"I'll have him there in fifteen minutes, tops," she promised. "What about you two?"

Two additional adult passengers would slow her down a bit, but not seriously so. The man shook his head, though. "There is still a missing girl somewhere out there. We're gonna keep it up for another hour or so at minimum."

"Good luck then," she said, meaning it from the bottom of her heart. She couldn't even imagine how she would feel if Buffy were lost somewhere in these dark woods.

She was busy strapping the boy in when she heard the scream from behind her. Turning around, she saw as the other man, who had remained back, went down under a huge mass of fur and teeth. And there were at least three more shapes who hadn't been there a minute ago, separating from the darkness of the tree line and coming directly toward them.

"Oh my God," she whispered, but instincts honed during her time in the military prevented her from freezing up. She quickly reached under her jacket and drew her gun, clicking off the safety in the same motion. The man beside her was fumbling for the rifle he had tied to the side of rucksack, but she knew he would take too long.

Lining up on the nearest wolf, she quickly squeezed off three shots, nicely grouped into the center of mass. She hit her target, she was sure she did, but from the lack of reaction the wolf showed, she might as well have been shooting blanks.

A moment later there was no more time to think. The wolf was upon them and had apparently decided to go for the bigger prey first. The man had managed to get his rifle loose, but there was no more time to line it up for a shot. He just managed to get it between him and the attacking predator, meaning that the giant teeth closed around the barrel of the weapon instead of his throat. The rifle splintered, but held. He still went down under the charge of the attacker, though.

Marlena kicked the thing – it was far too big to be any kind of wolf she knew of – in the side with all of her strength, but the wolf didn't even seem to notice. Then she had to fight for her own life, as another one was suddenly directly before her. She managed to squeeze off another shot, once again sure that she hit her target, but once again seeing no effect at all.

She managed to twist under the attacking wolf so that most of its mass went flying over her head. Its rear paws still hit her and she went down, feeling like she'd been kicked by a mule. Somehow she had managed to hold onto her gun and as she rolled across the ground, she managed to line it up with the chest of her attacker from less than a foot away.

The shot rang out loud in her ears and she saw the bullet hit the flesh. She saw it vanish into the fur, saw a small splatter of blood from the entry wound. The wolf didn't even seem inconvenienced, though. It just bared its teeth at her – so many teeth – and prepared to leap.

Oh God, she was going to die here!

A tremendous howling filled the clearing suddenly, causing everyone and everything to freeze. Marlena actually tore her eyes away from her impending death and in the rapidly fading twilight of the day she saw as... something... broke from the tree line and out into the open. Until now she had thought the wolves attacking them had been unnaturally large. Compared to that thing over there, though, they were puppies.

The newly arrived wolf had to be at least the size of a large horse and there was... was that really... there was someone riding on its back. Someone with long hair flowing behind them and holding up a... was that a sword? For a long moment Marlena strongly considered the notion that she was already dead and her poor brain was sending some random flashes through the decaying grey matter to ease her passing. Because that couldn't possibly be happening, could it?

"HAAAA!" the rider of the wolf yelled and jumped off, the sword flashing out in a blur of glinting metal, and suddenly one of the attacking wolves crumbled to the ground, now headless. This couldn't be happening. None of this. The wolves attacking them just ignored bullets and now someone was hacking off their heads like it was nothing? No way!

The giant wolf didn't slow down upon the jumping off of its rider, instead it headed straight toward the spot where the first wolf had brought down one of the two volunteers. A swipe of one giant paw sent the wolf off its victim and tumbling end over end until it hit a tree with bone-crunching force. It did not get back up again.

The wolf that had been about to munch on Marlena seemed to have forgotten all about her and leaped forward to face the new danger. Aware that she was still clutching her gun she tried to raise it, but her hand was shaking too badly. And it proved to be entirely unnecessary, too. Suddenly the wolf rider was there, the sword flashed out once again even as the wolf leapt, and the edge of the blade cut the beast open from neck to hip. A bloody mess that had been a seemingly invulnerable monster two seconds ago fell to the ground.

In the same motion the wolf rider suddenly whirled around and threw the sword. It cut through the air, spinning around like an insane Frisbee, and hit the wolf still trying to munch on the man beside her. Another severed head fell to the ground with a thud and Marlena breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the man was still moving under the dead weight of the headless wolf that was lying on top of him.

A yelp of pain from the other side of the clearing told of the fate of another wolf and then it was suddenly quiet. Marlena found herself leaning with her back against her chopper, still clutching her useless gun, and looked upon the scenery before her. Four dead wolves, two of them beheaded. One giant wolf, who was apparently trying to pick something out of its tremendously large and scary-looking teeth. One man slowly rising to his feet, the splintered remains of the rifle that had saved his life for the few precious seconds until help arrived still clutched in his hands. One other man over by the edge of the clearing, not moving. Dead? God, she hoped not.

And the wolf rider, who was walking over to recover the sword that had lodged itself into the ground. Her eyes focused on her savior and she could now make out that the shape was clearly female, though probably the tallest one she had ever seen.

"Thank you," she managed to stutter out, still unable to move.

"No thanks necessary," the woman said, sliding the big sword she had recovered into a sheath on her back. "Can you get everyone out of here or do you need help?"

"I...," she began, finally managing to unfreeze and getting back onto shaky legs. "I think so."

She could see that the giant wolf was over by the other volunteer and sniffing him. Oh God, he wasn't about to... was he? But then the wolf raised its head again and gave a sad yelp.

"I'm afraid we came too late for your other friend," the woman said, her back to Marlena. She sounded angry with herself. "Once the boy wakes up, though, you can tell him that Marie is safe and on her way back to town. A friend of mine is bringing her in as we speak."

"We would all have been dead if not for you," Marlena said, still shaky. "Those... those things..."

"You better get going," the woman interrupted her. "There might be more of these things still out there. I'll check it out. You make sure the boy gets back safe to his mom and sister, okay?"

"I... yes. And again, thank you."

The woman half-turned toward her and in the last glimmer of light before the sun finally vanished behind the horizon she had a moment to see her face. Her breath hitched in her throat.

"You're welcome," she said, then did a standing leap that carried her onto the back of the giant wolf, who had walked up without Marlena noticing. A moment later they had vanished into the trees. Marlena stared after them, the face she had seen still burned into her mind.

"Adora?" she whispered.

* * *

><p>The sun was rising above the glittering waters of Lake Rakash. They had ridden through the Sierras all night on the hunt for more of the demon wolves, but had found nothing. Now it was morning and time to head home in order to pretend to have had a good night of sleep.<p>

"You ready for this, Wolfy?" she asked.

The giant wolf growled at her.

"Yeah, yeah, I promise I'll find a better name for you. My word on it. We have to do this one first, okay?"

Finally the wolf lay down on the ground, which she took for agreement. Going down on one knee and putting the sword tip-first into the ground, she closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Let the power return," she whispered.

She hated this feeling when the power left. The world grew smaller, dimmer, and narrower. She felt smaller. Hell, she _was_ smaller. When she reopened her eyes the world looked like she had switched from High Definition to bad VHS quality. She hated it, every single time. The temptation to just forego this part and remain the Champion... one day she knew she wouldn't be able to resist it any longer.

A long, wet tongue suddenly brought her out of her funk as the now normal-sized wolf sitting beside her decided to lick her face.

"Hey, cut it out!" she said, scooting away from the very wet kiss.

She looked at him, even as Wolfy – yeah, a better name was coming soon, she promised herself – looked back at her with his big dark puppy eyes. Normal-sized puppy eyes. He, too, was back to his normal self.

"How are you handling it, buddy?" she asked. "You were the big bad super-wolf and now you're back to being all normal-wolf. Doesn't that... you know... suck?"

Wolfy came over and brushed against her side. Their mental connection relayed what he felt. Yes, he felt down as well. It was hard to go from being the biggest dog of all to a merely normal dog. But not because normal-dog was the worse state. It was because biggest dog was best at protecting the alpha, protecting the pack. Biggest dog could keep his newfound family safe. Something he didn't want to lose, couldn't lose. Never again.

"You're a really smart guy, you know that?" she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

His answering howl sounded suspiciously like "of course".

* * *

><p>On the far end of Lake Rakash, too far away for even the Champion of Grayskull to sense their presence, two unnaturally large wolves prowled along the edge of the forest. Tonight they had lost their brethren. Tonight they had been forced to flee from a foe far stronger than they were. The ancestry of the Horde was but a dim memory in their genetic code, but they still felt revulsion at the mere idea that there were stronger things than them in their world, their woods.<p>

Suddenly they tensed, as there was another presence close by. For the briefest of seconds they were poised to either attack or flee, but then they relaxed. The presence was soothing. The presence felt like home. They trotted forward, away from the safety of the trees, and towards the figure approaching on the shores of the lake.

Jesse McNally should have been scared when two giant wolves suddenly came out of nowhere and directly towards him. He was not, though. Something inside him had felt them long before his eyes had seen them. And as they approached he was not in the least surprised when they went down low and crawled on their bellies.

He crouched down and scratched their heads, smiling.

"Hello, my friends," he said, his voice with a strange, almost growling undertone to it.

END EPISODE VIII

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: Funny thing happened here. When I began writing this chapter I fully intended for 'Wolfy' to be Oz, cursed to a permanent wolf state. It would have been a thing for the story that Buffy is the only one who knows and tries to find a way to reverse it. Somehow, though, during the writing of this chapter 'Wolfy' became a character of his own, who lost his pack to the demon wolves and looked for both payback and a new pack. Trying to somehow bend that back to him being Oz... it just didn't work for me. So kudos to those who guessed that the wolf would turn out to be Oz, you were actually right. The wolf in question had other ideas, though. So we'll see if Oz comes into the story in some other way.<em>

_Until then, anyone have a good idea for the name 'Wolfy' eventually ends up with? I've got a few ideas so far, but none really clicked for me. And we're still looking for a good name for the Champion persona of Buffy, too. I love He-Man and She-Ra, mind you, but their names were really, really silly._

Until next time!


	10. Body Guard

Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull  
>Episode 9: Body Guards<p>

See chapter 1 for disclaimer!

* * *

><p>"Oh, how about Orion? Orion like the hunter… and the star constellation, too. Orion sounds like a cool name for a wolf."<p>

Walking along the corridors of Eternia Springs High School, Buffy was considering the latest idea Willow had come up with for naming her new four-legged companion. For the moment he was suffering under the not terribly original moniker 'Wolfy' and she had promised him she'd come up with something better. Which was turning out a bit harder than she had originally thought.

"Not bad, but... I'm not sure I'm feeling it. Doesn't really fit him, I think. Too... something."

"Too something? Please don't go into too much detail here, Buffy."

Buffy smirked, glad to see that the shy redhead she had befriended her first day here (and almost seen killed the following night) was beginning to warm up a bit and be more outgoing. A week ago she would never have dared tease Buffy (or anyone else under the sun except perhaps for Xander and Jesse) even in this very mild way, but things were beginning to improve. Slowly.

"I just need a name that really fits him, you know?"

"We'll think of something. Have you... I mean... does your mom know about your new... okay, I'm not going to call a big wolf who magically turns into an even bigger wolf a pet and, by the way, I really want to see him in his other form soon, okay? So... what do we call him? And does your mom know?"

Buffy was getting better at following Willow's stream-of-consciousness way of talking. "Nah, I haven't introduced them yet. Mom is still pretty spooked from what happened two days ago and I think I need to give her time to get over almost being eaten by a wolf before I can bring up the idea of adding a wolf to the family. He's staying in the forest near the town for now."

She herself was still rather spooked about that night herself, actually. When she had come upon that clearing and saw that it was her mom being attacked by the demon wolves, something inside her had just snapped and she had torn into the beasts with a vengeance. She was still down that they had been too late to save that one man, but at least her mom, the other guy, and little David had been okay. And she'd never gotten there as fast without Wolfy, so not only did she owe him her own life, but also her mom's. Wolfy didn't see it that way, of course. To him her mom was pack and pack protected each other. It was really that simple for him. Which was just one more reason she had quickly grown to love the big doggie and needed a really good name for him.

Willow looked up as Xander approached them. "Hey, Xander. Did you think of a cool name for Buffy's wolfy friend yet?"

The boy looked at them, seeming very distracted. "What? Uh, sorry, no. I was... have any of you seen Jesse?"

Buffy frowned. "No, no I haven't."

Willow shook her head as well. "Me, neither. I thought he was still in the hospital. We visited him... what, two days ago, didn't we?"

"Yeah, but apparently he was released that same evening. I assumed he'd stay in bed for a few more days, but when I called his parents they said he was up and about. I haven't seen him school yesterday, though, and not today, either."

He was clearly worried and now Buffy was a bit as well. "Maybe he just needs some time to himself? I mean, the Beast-Man nearly strangled him. That's not exactly something you forget after a few days."

"Sure, but I can't seem to reach him or visit him or anything. If I was a paranoid guy I'd think he was avoiding us."

Buffy shrugged. "How about we go by his house after school? Look in on him. And if he's not there, we can try and find him. Eternia Springs isn't that big, after all."

Xander gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Buffy. I'm probably just overreacting, but with everything that's been going on these... man, it's been just over a week, hasn't it?"

"Seems so much longer than that," she agreed as Xander fell into step with them. A week seemed like so short a time, but a lot had happened. Anyway, they were on the way to the library. Giles had told them that the Eternal Council had sent something for them which would aid Buffy. Maybe they had found out something about the blue guy or what exactly had been done to this entire region.

"Did you talk to Zoar about your new wolfy friend and how you managed to empower him?" Willow asked. "I mean if anyone should know more about this stuff, the guardian spirit of Castle Grayskull should, right?"

"No luck," Buffy replied, shrugging. "The bird-lady has been silent ever since the tussle with blue guy. I don't think she was even in the Castle the last time I was there. Giles doubts me, but I'm sure she has a place in town somewhere."

"Makes sense," Xander agreed. "Who would want to hang out in a drafty old castle all the time? I doubt she even gets cable up there."

Buffy chuckled. "Yeah, and I wouldn't want to know what calling a cleaning service up there would cost. The castle is seriously in need of a makeover. I tell you, some paint and a throw rug or two would do wonders for the place."

She was still laughing as they entered the library, but two steps in she stopped, staring at the very strange sight before her. Usually Giles pretty much had the library to himself. Occasionally a student would stray in, but that was not a frequent occurrence. Right now, though, four more people were present. Two men and two women, all of whom immediately whirled to face her and assumed what she easily recognized as combat stances. Giles stood with them.

"Eh, Giles?" she asked, waving at the newcomers.

The two guys were serious eye candy. Both were pretty tall, somewhere in their mid- to late twenties, and seemed to have no shortage of muscles. The two women were not that short, either (then again, pretty much everyone was not-short from her perspective, she admitted) and looked like coiled springs, all streamlined muscles. She figured they were in their early twenties, but it was hard to say.

"Ah, Buffy. You are just in time. May I make the introductions. Comrades, this is Buffy Summers, the Heir and Champion of Grayskull. Buffy, these are your Guard."

As one all four relaxed upon hearing her name. Then they did something that Buffy had not expected and which made her very, very uncomfortable. They all dropped down on one knee, put a fist to their chest above their hearts, and bowed their heads.

"We pledge to protect and serve the Heir and Champion of Grayskull," they intoned in unison, "from now on until the day death takes us."

Buffy stared at them, wide-eyed. No one said anything for a seemingly eternal second. Even Xander was completely dumbfounded and he was not normally one to forego a funny remark or sarcastic comment.

"Eh... nice to meet you, too," she finally managed. "Giles, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"

Not waiting for an answer, she dragged him away.

* * *

><p>With just about 8,000 inhabitants Eternia Springs was far from a big town, especially when compared to places like Los Angeles or even Fresno. Still, the vast land west of the Sierra Nevada was dotted with quite a few even smaller settlements, some of them having only a few hundred inhabitants to their name, if that much.<p>

One such micro village was on the far side of Lake Rakash, called Orange Cove and boasting slightly above 300 citizens. A small group of people – using the term loosely – were currently observing it from the shores of the lake.

"Place is barely worth calling a settlement," one of the men said, his voice sounding strange, almost as if he was busy gargling at the same time. "Couldn't find a town with more people?"

"We don't want many people, idiot" the sole woman in the group responded bitingly. "Just enough to draw a little attention, but not too much of it."

The leader of the group said nothing, just observed the small village for a moment, and then gestured his people forward. His purple cloak was flapping in the wind in a not entirely natural way as they made their way down the street.

* * *

><p>Buffy all but shoved Giles into his small separate office beside the library and slammed the door shut behind them. Her Man-at-Arms seemed somewhat confused as to her obvious anger.<p>

"What was that all about?" she hissed.

He gave her a questioning look. "Pardon? I did tell you that your own personal Guard would be arriving soon, did I not?"

"Okay, first off, 'soon' is not exactly a very exact term, you know? A little advance warning would have been nice like, oh, they'll be here tomorrow, instead of letting me walk into a room and suddenly finding four grown people doing the kneeling and oath-swearing in front of me."

Giles gave her a considering look. "Is it that last part you are actually having trouble with?"

She wilted a bit, shaking her head. "Giles, they... they knelt before me. And they swore to... they basically swore to die for me. I don't want people to die for me. I don't want people to serve me. I'm just... I'm just me."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry, Buffy. It seems I have once again forgotten how little you actually know about your destiny and role in life as of yet. You are the Heir and Champion of Grayskull, milady, and that means more than just wielding a magical sword and fighting off a few Horde-breed here and there."

She looked up at him, miffed that he had once again called her 'milady'. "I thought that was pretty much it. Draw the sword, kill the baddies."

He shook his head. "Buffy, you are the Heir of Grayskull. The successor of a king, who at one time ruled all of humanity and united them against the threat of the Horde. Grayskull wielded the very power of our world against the Horde demons and tied it to his name. Now these events are long forgotten by most men, but the world itself remembers. And we of the Eternal Council remember."

A feeling of dread began to spread in Buffy's belly as she listened to her Man-at-Arms. "Giles, you... you are talking nonsense. Okay, I get that King Grayskull was the big kahuna back in the day, but we don't have kings anymore today. I mean, yeah, some people have kings, I know, in some countries on other continents far away and such, but not here. And certainly not kings of the entire world. I got the shiny sword and all, yes, but that's it."

"No, I am afraid that is far from it, Buffy. I know that, as an American, the idea of a monarchy is very much foreign to you. There are much larger forces at work here, though. The very magic that gives you your power through the sword is part of your birthright. Why do you think the sword doesn't work for anyone else? Because the living spirit of the world itself, the essence of the Goddess, has recognized you as Grayskull's heir. Meaning you are this world's protector, this world's champion, and in all things that matter, this world's queen, no matter whether or not any country recognizes that fact."

Buffy could do little but look at him, stunned. Her brain refused to process what he had just said. Okay, she had somehow managed to wrap her brain around the fact that she was the one girl in all the world capable of wielding that damned magical power sword. That, however, was a far cry from accepting that, according to some magical powers older than anything else in the world, she was supposed to be a queen, too. And right outside that door were four people who had just sworn their very lives to her. And they had meant it, she could tell.

She shook her head. This was all wrong. Her fingers ached for the touch of her sword, her skin seemed too small and she longed for the flash of lightning that would make it fit right again. The Champion would be able to handle all this. There would be no doubts, no fears, just the unshaking confidence that she could take care of whatever came her way. She wasn't the Champion, though. She was just Buffy. Small, weak little Buffy who certainly didn't deserve to have people swear their lives to her service. She wasn't good enough for this.

"I am sorry for unloading all of this on you so quickly," Giles said softly. "In an ideal world you would have been brought much more gradually into your role. There have been quite a few Champions throughout history who never had to face anything worse than a few weak Horde-breed, who never saw Castle Grayskull manifest on this plane. Unfortunately you are not one of those. You are the Champion in difficult times. But I am sure you will be up to the challenge."

Buffy looked down. "Well, that makes one of us then."

Suddenly she tensed. Something was wrong. Giles was saying something, but she didn't hear a word. There was a roaring in her head and suddenly she was seeing things that were happening far, far away. A small village, flames, explosions, screams. And dark figures moving through the carnage.

_Champion,_ the voice of Zoar rang through her mind. _Innocents are in danger from someone using the tainted power of the Horde._

Her mind returned to the present and she looked at Giles again. "Trouble!"

Storming out of the office, she was reminded of the presence of her new Guard, plus Willow and Xander. And the fact that she still had classes this afternoon. Well, at least that last part was easy. Innocent lives in danger trumped mandatory school attendance. As for the rest...

"What's up, Buff?" Xander asked, seeing her worried face.

"Someone is trying his hand at casual slaughter," she replied, heading for the library exit and her locker, where she had stashed a certain sword.

_Wolfy, can you hear me?_ she did her best to project her thoughts. _We have trouble brewing and I'm going to need your help._

An affirmative woof echoed through her mind and she could feel her new friend approaching as fast as his feet could carry him. Now she just needed her sword and she could be there in...

"Where are we headed, milady?"

She blinked, suddenly finding four people walking alongside her with a fifth, Giles, trailing only slightly behind her and two more, Xander and Willow, two steps behind him. Right, there were people. Quite a few people.

"Look, guys, rule number one. No calling me 'milady' or anything similar, ever! No matter what! I'm Buffy when I look like this and... and I'm still trying to think of a name for my other form, but it will not be 'milady' or anything similar. And... what are your names, anyway? I didn't hear them over all that oath-swearing and kneeling."

The taller of the two women was walking on her right, long black hair trailing behind her and a smirk spreading on her face. "Buffy, eh? Okay. I am Faith Lehane, captain of your Guard. These are Ampata Gutierrez," she nodded at the other, Mexican-looking woman, "Graham Miller," the slightly shorter, stern-looking man, "and Riley Finn," the bigger man, who looked like the model of the corn-fed American All-Star athlete.

"Okay, thanks for the intro dump, but I've got somewhere to be. We'll talk later."

Faith shook her head. "No way, your highness," she smirked as she said that, "we're your Guard and if you're headed into danger, we're coming with."

She glared at the older woman. "Okay, 'highness' is off the table, too. And shouldn't you be doing what I tell you to do?"

"Nah, the oath goes 'serve and protect'. There is nothing in there about obeying."

Buffy shook her head, but had to suppress a slight smile at the same time. The kneeling and oath-swearing had given her major wiggins, but at the same time the newcomers didn't seem all awe and hero-worshippy about it. And considering the last few battles she had fought as the Champion, additional back-up certainly couldn't hurt. Especially back-up that (hopefully) knew what it was doing.

"Okay, fine! But just so we're clear. I'm the Champion. I got the magic and mojo and all that, so whatever we're going into, I'm going in first. Your job is to take care of whatever innocents might be in danger and prevent skanky ho witches from blasting me in the back."

Faith smirked. "That's a very peculiar way of saying 'watch my back'." She looked at the other three. "You heard the boss! Graham, get the car, we'll meet you out front."

Reaching her locker, she opened it and took out the bag with her sword, even as she turned to give her Man-at-Arms a very dark look. "A car, eh? What do you know, Giles, THEY have a car."

Giles didn't meet her eyes.

"Be careful out there, Buffy," Xander said. She could see in his eyes that he wanted to accompany them, but he had clearly realized by now that he would just be in the way. She knew he had talked to Giles about training, so maybe he would be a valuable back-up in the future. Not yet, though.

"I will, Xand. You and Will do me a favor, okay? Keep your eyes peeled for anything extra-weird, okay? Just in case someone is trying the old distract-the-Champion thing again."

"Sure," Willow said, "but if we see something, how are we to..."

The big guy, Riley, took a cell phone out of his pocket and put it into Willow's hand. "Speed dial 1 is Faith, 2 is Graham, 3 is Ampata."

Buffy glared at Giles again. "Wow, Giles, they have cell phones, too."

"I'll… ah… I'll go get my armor."

* * *

><p>Three minutes later they had piled into a large all-terrain car big enough to comfortably seat all six of them and were heading towards the small village of Orange Cove at best speed. Buffy had unpacked the Sword of Grayskull from her backpack and was rather aware that the four newcomers were watching here.<p>

"We'll be there in a few minutes," Faith said. "Shouldn't you... you know?"

"In a minute. Still waiting for someone."

They gave her puzzled glances. Buffy ignored them, instead concentrating on the feeling in the back of her mind. Any moment now…

"Stop the car," she ordered, almost out the door before the vehicle had even slowed. A furry shape had appeared as if from nowhere on the side of the road.

"Careful, boss," Faith yelled. "That's a..."

"That's my friend, Faith," she replied. "And you better keep back a bit. This is the part you wanted to see, but it's better watched from a distance."

Wolfy stopped beside her, tongue hanging out, barking at her in greeting. She briefly ruffled the fur on his neck, but then stood back up.

"Nice to see you, too, buddy, but we're in a hurry. Hope you're ready." She raised the sword to the heavens. "BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!"

The bolt of lightning arced down from above and hit the sword, instantly triggering the transformation. She felt her strength increasing, her body growing, and her doubts and fears evaporating. She was the Champion of Grayskull and there was nothing she couldn't handle, especially with a little help from her friends. Everything was going to be fine.

"I… HAVE… THE POWER!"

Her own transformation finished, she pointed her sword at the waiting shape of her wolf friend and the magic worked once again. A bolt of energy sprang from the blade and enveloped Wolfy in a halo of brilliance. A second later he had grown to the size of a horse and threw his head back to howl.

"Wow," she heard someone say from behind her.

Quickly jumping onto the back of her friend, she turned to her Guard. Well, they might not have been all that impressed with little Buffy Summers, but it was clearly a different matter now.

"Follow me! And remember my orders!"

Then Wolfy took off and the somewhat stunned Guardsmen and –women quickly shook off their amazement and put the car back in gear. The speed limit for this road was 55 miles per hour. Both the car and the wolf exceeded it easily.

Orange Cove came into view only a minute or so later. Dark smoke was rising into the sky and her enhanced hearing could already pick up screams. Someone was having the bad kind of party down there. Well, the party crashers were about to arrive.

There wasn't much in the way of buildings to Orange Cove, so it wasn't hard to find the center of the trouble. She could make out a small group of people standing right in the middle of Route 198 and several of them were blasting away at what looked like random. There were three men and a woman to the group and she was very much surprised as she recognized two of them.

"Be careful," she yelled at the Guard in the car beside her. "The woman in the group is a powerful magic caster and superhumanly resistant to damage as well."

"Any intel on the other three?" Riley asked, leaning out the window.

"I don't know two of the men," if men they actually were. Both were really big, muscular, and it looked like... was one of them green? "The guy in the purple cloak, though... if he's the same guy I met before, then he is serious trouble."

"Not an amiable meeting, I take it?" Faith asked.

"I put a lightning bolt to his face," she replied deadpan. "I doubt it endeared me to him."

"Remind me never to make you mad at me," Faith just said. "Okay, people! Ampata, Graham, you're on civilian duty. Get everyone out. Riley, you and I will take a closer look at the two unknowns."

Graham hit the brakes and the car screeched to a halt about 50 meters away from the enemy group. Her Man-at-Arms and the Guard quickly got out and she saw that all of them were armed. Faith carried a sword and a gun, Ampata had a big axe, Riley carried a rifle on his shoulder and a mace in his hand, while Graham seemed to be a knife guy, while also carrying a gun on his hip. Giles was once again carrying his trusty mace.

"Ah, our guests of honor have arrived," a voice rang out. The hood of his purple cloak obscured the guy's face, but that voice was unmistakable. Yep, this was indeed the blue guy who had gotten the lightning treatment from her. She had no idea how he had survived, but it seemed he was back and looking to return the favor.

Seeing as a surprise attack was not happening, she took her time studying the opposition. Blue guy and magic lady she had met before, but the other two were new. And yes, one of them was indeed green. In fact he looked like the love child of a human and something very fishy. Green scales covered his entire body and she was pretty sure those were gills on his neck. There was webbing between his fingers and he was holding a big sword in one hand that looked like it was made from yellow-ish corral. Okay, they had apparently reached a new level of weird here.

The other man was somewhat more normal-looking, but only when compared to fish guy. Actually he looked pretty much like someone had already killed him, only he hadn't noticed yet. Parts of his body were actually missing and had been replaced with metal, most prominently his lower jaw and his entire right arm.

A fish man and a weaponized zombie? This was certainly turning out to be an interesting day. Wasn't there some kind of Chinese curse about living in interesting times?

"I think you got turned around or something," she said, getting off her ride without taking her eyes off the four enemies. "Castle Grayskull is way over there in the Sierras. Any particular reason you're demolishing this town or is that just the cool new thing for the average evil guy?"

"There is nothing average about me," blue guy growled. "But in order to answer your question, missy, there are two very good reasons for being here today. Well, three actually, if you count the fact that it's just plain fun."

She held her sword in front of her, ready for the attack she was sure was imminent.

"And the other two reasons? Or do I have to guess?"

He chuckled, slowly walking towards her, trailed by his posse. "Well, one, I wanted to give my new employees here their first trial run. You know, nothing strenuous, just stretching their legs a bit. A little slaughter to really get into the spirit of things."

"Charming," she replied. "And two?"

He stopped and a blue hand emerged from his cloak, reaching up to draw back his hood. She couldn't quite suppress a gasp. The last time she had seen him he had been a handsome-looking man in his mid- to late thirties. Sure, he had had blue skin, but apart from that he had looked very much human. A human with long black hair and a twirly mustache, yes, but still human.

Now, though, the only thing left was a skull. A pale, beige skull that somehow seemed to still be attached to a human-looking body (blue skin notwithstanding). The empty eye holes of the skull were filled with an eerie red glow.

"Two, I really wanted to meet you again, Champion. I have a score to settle with you. Oh, and in case you are uncomfortable with calling me Master, I have a new name you can call me by now."

He threw his head back and laughed. "CALL ME SKELETOR!"

END EPISODE IX

_Author's Note: Fictional Eternia Springs is loosely located where the real town of Woodlake, California is. Lake Rakash is actually Lake Kaweah and the fictional micro-village Orange Cove is loosely based on the real town of Lemon Cove. All I know of this region hails from Google Maps and Wikipedia._


	11. Masters & Minions

Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull  
>Episode 10: Masters &amp; Minions<p>

See chapter 1 for disclaimer!

* * *

><p><em>"I really wanted to meet you again, Champion. I have a score to settle with you. Oh, and in case you are uncomfortable with calling me Master, I have a new name you can call me by now."<em>

* * *

><p>He threw his head back and laughed. "CALL ME SKELETOR!"<p>

As the Champion of Grayskull Buffy had access to a sort of collective well of experience, amassed from the battles all previous Champions had fought. It was not really a conscious thing, she did not have memories of the actual battles, but on an instinctual level she knew battle tactics, fighting styles, and battle field strategies in a way only someone who had fought hundreds of battles could. Thankfully that instinctual knowledge also included team tactics. While she had fought most of her battles either alone or with just one other person (or wolf) beside her, previous Champions were well-versed in fighting in groups as well.

They outnumbered their enemies seven to four, but two of her Guard were tending to the civilians and thus otherwise occupied. Plus she had a strong suspicion that all four of the enemy combatants probably outmuscled every one of her guys except herself and Wolfy. She had no idea how skilled Faith and Riley were, but she figured they were somewhere around Giles' level, who could definitely hold his own in a fight against most people and non-people. And was smart enough to know when it was better to attack from the blind side rather than the front.

"Take on the zombie and the fish man," she told Faith, "but be careful. I don't want to take an ad out for a new Guard on the first day."

"You're all heart, milady," Faith snarked back, then did a short hand signal thing with Riley – she should probably learn those of fighting with her Guard became a regular thing – and then unceremoniously lined up her pistol on the zombie and put three bullets into his head.

The zombie took a step back and shook his head. That was the extent of the effects.

"Using guns now?" Skeletor asked, sounding amused. "How untraditional. I prefer the old ways."

His ram staff swung around and Faith and Riley scattered. A purple blast of energy burst forth and she intercepted it with her sword. Despite the magical blade deflecting all of the energy upwards and away from her, she was still forced back several steps. Maybe she was imagining it, but it seemed having had his face removed had made the guy even stronger than before.

Everyone exploded into action a second later. She was rushing toward Skeletor, even as she kept an eye on the rest of the action. Wolfy was already leaping towards the zombie, probably figuring slicing him into pieces might work better than bullets. Riley had unslung his rifle and was shooting at the fish man, but the green guy seemed to flow right out of the line of fire. Moving like water sounded really clichéd for a fish man, but it fit. Giles and Faith were moving in a pincer movement around the witch, who was beginning to dish out magical energy bursts of her own.

Skeletor had apparently decided to forego the long range attacks and cast his ram staff aside, drawing his double blades in one smooth movement. Moments later they clashed, his two swords against hers in a shower of sparks, and it was quickly becoming even more evident that, yes, he was stronger than before.

"Sorry about the face," she said, straining against him, "but it seems it did wonders for your fitness."

"Oh, it certainly did, wench. Now let us see if you will benefit in a similar way!"

They sprang apart and he slashed at her with both blades. She jumped up and out of the way, flipping over his head and spinning in mid-air to strike at him, but he was there to parry. She had a second to realize that he was holding but one sword when there was a slight movement of air from the left, causing her to duck. His second sword darted through the air where her head had been moments ago.

"That flying swords trick is getting old," she complained. "Got anything new?"

"How about this one?" he cackled.

She barely managed to get her sword up in time to deflect another energy blast from the free-floating ram staff, but her footing was all wrong. The force of the blast sent her flying backwards and straight into one of the burning houses. She barely had time to register that she had gone straight through the cheap dry wall when the roof came down on top of her.

* * *

><p>You would never notice it from looking at her, but Faith was a bundle of nerves. Here she was, having received the second-biggest honor the Eternal Council could bestow upon any of its members – being named Captain of the Champion's Guard – and it was straight into battle on her very first day on the job. She really, really didn't want to mess this up. Besides, even from the brief interaction so far she was quickly growing fond of Buffy, the girl behind the Champion, who was clearly every bit as uncomfortable in her role as Faith herself was in hers, though she was far less proficient at hiding it. Maybe they could figure it out together.<p>

She hadn't really expected the bullets to work on the steel-jawed zombie, but you never knew. When Buffy's giant wolf friend leaped past her to take on the guy, she was more than happy to let him and concentrated on the witch instead. She had a strong feeling that this was the 'skanky ho witch' Buffy had been referring to earlier. She decided to try bullets again, but wasn't surprised when they harmlessly deflected off some kind of energy barrier the woman had erected with a gesture.

"I don't like guns," the witch said. "So inaccurate."

She gestured and Faith moved. The ground where she had just been standing busted open and pieces of concrete went flying in all directions. Even as she rolled to her feet she holstered her gun and grabbed her sword with both hands. It wasn't the mighty blade of Grayskull, but the Eternal Council knew a thing or two about forging bad ass swords as well.

After a brief eye contact with Giles she moved towards the witch from the right, even as the Man-at-Arms came at her from the left. While she didn't have much experience actually battling magic users (there just weren't that many, at least of the energy blast throwing kind), she had received quite a bit of training regarding them. Using magic, especially on a larger scale, usually required two things: concentration and a focusing object. Losing the latter meant they would need even more of the former, so breaking either or both was a pretty good way to go. And forcing her to focus on two different opponents in two different spots wouldn't be good for her concentration, either.

Briefly glancing to one side she saw that Riley was engaging the fish man, who seemed quicker and far more nimble than her fellow guard, but Riley clearly had him outclassed in terms of combat skills. Given the way he moved, Faith figured it would be murder to face this guy underwater, but on dry land she was confident Riley had it in hand. Glancing another way showed her that the giant wolf had engaged the zombie and cleanly sliced off one of his arms with those monster claws of his. The zombie didn't look impressed, though, having picked up the severed arm and using it as a club. That battle could go either way.

"Don't crowd me!" the witch yelled as they closed in, unleashing a kind of spherical assault that radiated outwards in all directions. Faith ducked low to the ground and let the energy pass over her. Omni-directional energy projection had its uses, she figured, but it was far weaker than those focused blasts. She saw that Giles had weathered it just as easily as she had.

She was about to close to striking distance with her enemy when, from the corner of her eye, she saw the Champion being knocked backwards by a humongous energy blast and crashing into a burning house. That couldn't be good.

* * *

><p>Xander and Willow met up in the library again when the last class of the day was out. Willow had awkwardly fibbed about Buffy heading home with a strong headache and thankfully the teacher had bought it. Fortunately any further bouts of strangeness had been conspicuous by their absence, at least on the school grounds.<p>

"I hope they're all right," Willow said, worriedly looking at the cell phone Riley had given them. "Do you think they're all right?"

Xander was walking back and forth, his desire to go and do something warring with his knowledge that he was in no way qualified to lend a hand... yet.

"Hey, you saw Buffy in her warrior mode," he said, his optimistic tone of voice belying the worried frown on his face. "There is nothing that Wonder Buff can't handle."

"Wonder Buff?" Willow asked.

Xander stopped, shrugging. "Yeah, not really catching, right? Still trying to think of a good name for her and Wolfy, but so far..."

Willow opened her mouth to answer, but was distracted when she saw a figure passing by the windows.

"Jesse?" she said, quickly standing up. She was at the window a moment later, Xander directly behind her. Sure enough, there was Jesse walking across the court yard of Eternia Springs High.

Somewhat ashamedly realizing that they had completely forgotten about their absent friend during the hubbub of the arriving Guard and whatever battle everyone else had run off to, they quickly ran outside and tried to catch up with him.

"Jesse! Hey, buddy, wait up!" Xander yelled.

He stopped walking, but didn't turn around. Xander squinted, trying to figure out if he was seeing things. Was Jesse... had he gotten a late growth spurt or something? He sure looked a lot bigger than a few days ago.

"We were so worried about you," Willow said, catching up. "We couldn't seem to get a hold of you these last two days."

He still stood with his back to them, not saying a word. Xander, his stomach doing flip-flops with worry, slowly walked closer. "Jesse? Everything okay, buddy?"

When Xander was almost within touching distance, Jesse finally turned around to face them and Xander froze in mid-step. Something was wrong. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about his best male friend was seriously off. Not only the fact that, yes, Jesse was now definitely taller than him (which hadn't been the case a few days ago), but there was something in his eyes... and had Jesse's hair always had that slight reddish tint to it? He sure couldn't remember it being this way.

"What do you want, Xander?" Jesse growled. Growled? Since when did Jesse growl? He had always had a rather high voice for a boy, even after his voice broke. Now, though, he sounded like Louis Armstrong, only far less 'wonderful world'-ly.

"We... we just wanted to make sure you were all right?" Xander slowly said, aware that Willow was staying behind him. Apparently he wasn't just imagining things. She, too, seemed somewhat troubled by the appearance of their friend.

"I'm fine," he snapped at them. "Now leave me alone!"

He started to turn away again.

"Hey, wait!" Xander said. "We've been trying to get ahold of you for two days now and you're just brushing us off? What's the matter with..."

Jesse roughly brushed Xander's outstretched hand away with enough force to make it hurt. He got right into Xander's face and bared his teeth. Teeth that looked far, far pointier than any human teeth Xander had ever seen up close.

"I said, LEAVE ME ALONE!"

He raised one of his hands, balled into an uncomfortably large-looking fist.

* * *

><p>Being the Champion of Grayskull had quite a few perks. Vastly enhanced toughness was part of it. She wasn't actually bullet proof or anything – at least that's what Merrick had said and she had no desire to test it out – but she was far harder to damage than most people. So being blasted into a building didn't really harm her the way it would most people.<p>

It still hurt, though.

"Ouch," she said, getting back to her feet and unceremoniously shoving pieces of collapsed ceiling off of her. Her white and golden armor was a bit singed, but otherwise intact. Looking up, she saw Skeletor stalking towards her with... well, it was hard to tell, seeing as he was all skull, but he seemed to be grinning. Or maybe that was just his default expression now.

"The vaunted Champion of Grayskull," Skeletor cackled. "Is a simple sorcerer such as myself really too much to handle for you?"

"Average offends you, but simple is okay?" she asked back. "You really are a contradictory fellow, aren't you?"

She took a moment to glance across the battle field. The others seemed to be holding their own, but none of the enemy were down yet. She winced as she saw Wolfy being clubbed by the zombie with... was that his own severed arm? Well, Wolfy gave as good as he got and sent the zombie flying with a head butt. Faith and Giles were circling the witch, while Riley was putting on a good show with the fish guy.

"I like to keep people guessing," Skeletor replied, then attacked without further warning.

As their swords clashed once again she took a moment to get the measure of her opponent. In their previous encounter he had been a skilled fighter, favoring a combination of brute force attacks with sneaky moves using his levitating weapons. This time around he was using much the same tactics, but his power levels had clearly increased. Maybe to the point where he wasn't yet fully used to them?

Fighting styles weren't one-size-fits-all things. A 300 pound man bulging with muscles moved and fought differently than someone who was 150 pounds and lean, even if they were using the same basic style. Kicks, holds, punches, all needed to take the strength, reach, and height of the one doing them into account and be modified accordingly. That was even more true for those like herself who had far more strength and speed than her build would suggest. A simple Judo throw by her could send a grown man flying half a mile through the air. Even with all the instinctual knowledge that was part of the Grayskull package, it had taken some time to get used to it.

Maybe her sparring partner hadn't yet realized how much difference enhanced strength and speed would make.

When he came at her again, slashing with both swords, she simply guided his strikes aside instead of blocking them outright. Having come in with a full head of steam, Skeletor stumbled forward at the unexpected lack of a full block, his own strength and speed carrying him past her. Twisting around him, she swatted his behind with the flat of her blade. This sent him tumbling face (or skull) first into the wreckage she had just emerged from.

"Curse you, wench," he swore, quickly rolling back to his feet. "You'll pay for that!"

"A swat on your ass makes you madder than a lightning bolt to the face? You really do like to keep people guessing."

As expected he got even angrier and surged forward once again, even as his floating ram staff came at her from the side. She quickly switched her sword to her other hand and, as he came within her reach, grabbed him by the front of his cloak and swung him around, sending him right into his own staff. He cursed once again, trying to regain his balance, and a moment later she was there and cleaved his staff in two with her sword.

She had not really expected the thing to explode, to be honest, which caused both her and Skeletor to be blown off their feet in opposite directions.

Rolling back to her feet and clearing the spots from her vision, she looked up just in time to see him coming at her once again, a sword in each hand and somehow managing to make his skull face look really, really pissed. Quickly deciding, she brought up her sword and jumped slightly into the air, meeting his blades very high. It had almost the same effect as running into a clothesline. His lower body kept moving forward, even as his upper one stalled against her, and a moment later he skidded across the ground on his butt.

"This isn't turning out quite the way you planned it, right?" she asked as he got back up. Not giving him room to breathe – and how did he breathe now anyway? – she was upon him once again. He blocked her sword, managed to avoid her kick, but the bracer of her right arm met his skull cheek with thundering force. He spun around, turning it into a stabbing attack with his sword, but she was inside his reach and grabbed his wrist. A sharp twist and the sound of broken bones later, one of his swords fell to the ground.

"When was the last time you ever fought someone you couldn't just overpower with the magic juice?" she asked, deadpan, as he howled in pain. "Or did you ever? You seem like the kind of guy who only ever picks on those weaker than him."

Okay, maybe she had made him a tad too angry, now, because his eye sockets started glowing and his remaining sword flashed with magical fire. She cartwheeled to the side, just managing to avoid a big blast of energy, and got back to her feet in time to see him throw away the sword, which had a severe case of melting. Obviously not meant as a channeling device for his power. She had broken one of his wrists and his other hand was now burned. He had also lost all his weapons.

Time to finish this!

* * *

><p>Giles saw that the Champion seemed to have the skull-faced leader of the enemy group well in hand, so he remained focused on the witch. Faith and he were steadily getting closer despite everything the woman was throwing at them and it seemed she was growing desperate. Giles couldn't be sure, of course, but judging by the woman's build and her over-reliance on magic, he doubted that she was much of a hand-to-hand fighter.<p>

Something bothered him about this entire battle, though. What was this Skeletor hoping to gain here? Was it really just payback for the injuries done to him by the Champion? Having one's entire head ruined was certainly going to put thoughts of revenge into anyone's mind and the kinds of dark magic it would take to preserve the life of one so heavily injured probably weren't conductive to one's sanity, either.

Still, it seemed almost too straight-forward. From what little they knew of this man – if man he was – he was a planner. He had turned an entire county into one huge ritual ground, a working that would take decades, just to trap Castle Grayskull here. He had sacrificed one of his minions just as a distraction to keep the Champion away from Grayskull while he made his move. This full-frontal assault here just didn't fit his MO.

Even as he moved to evade another magic blast from the witch, he kept thinking. Given that the Champion had destroyed the Ramstone, this Skeletor would now need another means of penetrating the barriers around Castle Grayskull if he wanted to gain entry. There was always the brute force approach, but Giles suspected that even with his newly enhanced powers it would take Skeletor a long, long time to wear down the wards. Which left just one other way in.

And it was within arm's reach of him right at this very moment.

He looked toward the other battle, seeing his Champion raise her sword to put an end to her weakened and weaponless opponent. He also saw the dangerous glint in the eyeless sockets of the blue skull-faced man. Gut instincts sharpened by decades of training and experience made him move before he had consciously realized and he threw his battle mace with all the force and accuracy he could muster.

Which left him wide open for an attack from the witch, unfortunately.

* * *

><p>Everything happened extremely fast. Skeletor was defeated, or so it had seemed. She had raised her sword for the killing blow - only very briefly wrestling with the decision to put an end to this extremely dangerous enemy who had little qualms about sacrificing innocents or even his own minions – when she suddenly realized that she had been faked out. Her thoughts were going a mile a minute, even as her body moved much too slowly. The sword, of course. With the destruction of the ram stone the only other known way of getting through the wards around Castle Grayskull was the sword she held in her hands. That was why she had been lured here. He wanted the sword.<p>

Skeletor was not as weaponless as he had just appeared, nor was he as weak. She didn't know where he had drawn that two-pronged knife from, but it was heading directly towards her exposed belly. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she tried to get her body to move, but it had taken her a heartbeat too long to figure it out. And somehow she had little doubt that Skeletor had chosen a weapon fully capable of penetrating her armor.

Three things happened almost at the same time. The knife made contact with her armor and sliced right through it as expected. A mace came flying in from the side and hit Skeletor's hand with brutal force, causing him to scream in pain and let go. And at the same time her sword came down, too slow to keep Skeletor from stabbing her, but quite quick enough to hit him even as he drew back from the impact of the mace.

Time resumed its normal flow. She gasped, going to one knee from the pain in her belly. The knife was still there, lodged in her armor. It couldn't have penetrated more than half an inch or so, but it hurt like hell. Skeletor was tumbling backwards, his fingers bending at impossible angles, blood spurting from a wound on his shoulder where the Sword of Grayskull had sliced off a good-sized chunk of flesh. And she could clearly hear Giles' scream of pain as a blast of energy from the witch sent him flying backwards, his armor scorched and smoking.

"Giles," she yelled, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

The witch looked at her, looked at Skeletor, and seemed about to do something that probably involved yet another magical blast. But thankfully she had more back-up this time than just Giles, who had just saved her life and paid for it. Faith was taking the opportunity provided by the mutual distraction and was suddenly upon the woman. One kick sent the witch's staff flying off, another hit her in the stomach and made her double over. The pommel of Faith's sword made painful contact with the back of the woman's neck next, causing her to crumble to the ground in a heap.

Seeing the immediate threat dealt with, she struggled back to her feet. Blood was seeping through the gash in her armor. She quickly pulled out the knife, wincing as the ragged edges tore at her flesh, and quickly proceeded to crumple it into tin foil with one hand. She saw Graham and Ampata arrive from the far side of the road, apparently having gotten all the civilians clear.

"Check on Giles," she ordered them, even as she approached the prone form of Skeletor. She was pretty sure he was hurting for real this time, but she was not about to take any chances.

"Game over, skull man," she growled, angry at herself for nearly having gotten killed by a simple fake-out. Angrier still that her Man-at-Arms had gotten hurt saving her from her own mistake.

He looked up at her. "Stupid child with too much power. You think you can defeat me? You think you can kill me? Think again!"

She saw movement to her left and quickly dodged, only to realize it was not an attack. It was the zombie, missing one arm and looking like someone sliced and diced him but good, but still very much mobile. He quickly grabbed Skeletor, easily lifting the big man as if he weighed nothing, and kept on running. She moved to follow him, but quickly realized that her stomach wound was slowing her down too much. A moment later the zombie and Skeletor were out of sight.

Looking around, she saw that the fish man seemed to have vanished as well, but Faith was keeping guard over the unconscious witch and Riley had secured her focusing staff. Graham and Ampata were looking after Giles. Wolfy was trotting towards her, showing some signs of struggle, but looking mostly unharmed. He growled in alarm when he realized she was bleeding, though.

"I'll survive, buddy," she assured him.

Her gaze swept across the half-wrecked town, while her enhanced hearing could clearly pick up some sobs and sounds of pain. They might have beaten the bad guys for now, but there was still some work to be done.

* * *

><p>Xander was certain he was about to get punched and punched hard by probably the last person in the world he had ever expected to get punched by. Okay, maybe the next-to-last person, considering that he doubted Willow was capable of even shaking a fist at someone, much less hitting with it, but still. Not that he didn't have experience getting hit, but from Jesse? He hadn't seen that one coming.<p>

The hit never came, though, as a commotion from the school entrance suddenly drew their attention. Someone had come out of the building and positively squealed as he saw Jesse.

"Jesse? Oh thank God, you're all right. Nobody would tell me anything and when that thing had us both by the throat, I was so worried…"

Right, Xander reminded himself, Jonathan had also been grabbed by the Beast-Man that day. He had gotten away without much of a scratch, fortunately, but had been just as spooked, he figured. The pudgy boy came running down the stairs toward them.

Jesse lowered his fist, looking at Xander, then at Jonathan, then at the school entrance where several other students were starting to emerge as well now. Growling something under his breath, he quickly turned around and took off at a run. A very, very fast run. Xander could only stare after him.

"Why's he running off?" Jonathan asked, coming to a stop next to Xander. "Was it something I said?"

"No, Jono," Xander assured him. "It wasn't you. Something strange is going on here, though."

Jonathan gave him a questioning look, but Xander said no more. He just put his arm around Willow, who seemed just as shocked as he was, and worried about his friend.

* * *

><p>Lifting the heavy piece of roof as if it weighed nothing, Buffy looked at the man who had been buried below it. He was bumped and bruised, plus quite a few scratches, but overall he seemed to have gotten off lucky. No obvious broken bones or anything and he looked up at her with awe in his eyes instead of the dazed gaze of the concussed.<p>

"Can you get out on your own?" she asked, still easily holding the roof piece. Her stomach wound stung, but Ampata had expertly wrapped it, which would do for now.

He just nodded, scrambling to his feet and getting out from under the rubble. He was clearly in pain, but seemed to be in good shape considering the circumstances. Once he was clear she let the roof go again. When she turned around, though, the man was suddenly in front of her, on his knees, and taking one of her hands to kiss it.

"Muchas gracias! Muchas gracias, salvadora!" he mumbled.

"Eh... you're welcome."

He finally got back to his feet and, still thanking her over and over again, walked off towards the parking lot where they were gathering the wounded. Faith stepped up beside her, smirking.

"You're getting a fan club, it seems, Salvadora!"

She looked at her Guard Captain, slightly peeved. Having grown up in Los Angeles she inevitably knew a bit of Spanish. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with someone kneeling before me and calling me savior."

Faith just shrugged. "You were looking for a good name, though, right? Salvadora doesn't sound too bad! Or would you like to go back to 'milady' or 'highness'? How about Queen Grayskull?"

She sighed. "Anything but that. I think that was the last one. Wolfy hasn't found anymore scents among the wreckage and I can't hear anyone, either. How is Giles?"

"Bumped, bruised, and slightly scorched, but the armor kept him in one piece. He'll be up and around in a few days."

They both looked up when they heard sirens in the distance. "Looks like the state emergency services are finally responding, " Faith said. "You and your wolfy pal should make yourselves scarce. We'll play concerned passers-by and make sure everyone gets to the hospital."

She nodded and walked over to where her furred companion was waiting.

"Good work today, my friend," she said, checking over the scrapes on his flank. "I hope the zombie guy didn't give you too many bumps."

Wolfy shook his head, giving a derogatory growl about stupid zombies who just didn't have the good sense to fall down when you sliced off parts of their bodies.

"I hear you. Every time I think I've got this skull guy down for the count, he just comes back. Some people just don't know when to quit. At least we got his bitchy witch, though."

Faith and Graham had tied up the woman but good, not trusting that she was really out cold, and she herself had reduced that orb staff she had used to splinters, just in case. Her Guard would discreetly smuggle the prisoner out of the disaster area this town had become. Once she recovered they would have some questions for her.

"By the way, how does Salvadora sound to you?" she asked Wolfy, scratching his neck before she mounted him. He growled approvingly, but followed up with a slight whine.

"Yeah, I know. I've been thinking about a name for you as well. Let's see, since I'm stuck with savior, apparently, how about you be the defender? How do you like Paladin?"

He seemed to think on it for a moment, then gave another affirmative growl before taking off away from the devastated town and towards Eternia Springs.

"Okay, Paladin," Salvadora said, holding on. "Looks like we both got names now. Oh, and I can call you Mr. P when you're normal you."

Paladin's offended howl accompanied them as they sped towards home.

END EPISODE X

_Author's Note: This was a somewhat tough chapter to write, I don't really like writing big fight scenes. I hope I did it justice somewhat. Also, thanks for the many name proposals. I ended up going with none of them, sorry._


	12. Questions, questions, and more questions

Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull  
>Episode 11: Questions, questions, and more questions<p>

See chapter 1 for disclaimer!

* * *

><p>"Her name is Catherin Evelyn Powers-Madison," Riley said, looking at the small file he had assembled. "Age 38, divorced. She works as a freelance cosmetics saleswoman. No police record, always pays her taxes on time, not even a parking ticket. One daughter, Amy Madison, age 16. Ex-husband Derek Madison left her for another woman 4 years ago, died in a car accident three months later."<p>

Faith snorted. "Anyone willing to take a bet that her unfaithful hubby's car crash was not exactly an accident?"

"No takers," Buffy replied, studying the image of the captured witch on the small screen before her. She was still somewhat amazed how quickly her Guard had set this place up when the need for housing a prisoner had unexpectedly come up. Well, they would have needed a bigger place anyway, she figured. Giles' cover as school librarian might work for him, but explaining the frequent presence of four additional adults in the library would have been a tad more difficult.

Thankfully they had been in luck on that front. Eternia Spring's only night club, Point Dread, had been thoroughly trashed her first night here due to an attack by the Beast-Man. Apparently the owner, who had already been thinking about retirement for a while, had taken that as a sign and sold the place off at a bargain. The Eternal Council had purchased it through a middle man and had quickly converted several of the back rooms into an impromptu headquarters and living space for the Guard. Point Dread would remain open, of course, which gave Buffy and her friends a good excuse to hang out there frequently without raising too many suspicions.

"Has she said anything yet?" Buffy asked.

"Just a wild assortment of threats and quite innovative curse words, I fear," Giles said, stepping up beside her. Her Man-at-Arms was still heavily bandaged and sported a large number of bruises, but thankfully he had recovered nicely from that energy blast he had taken while saving her life. He would definitely need a new set of armor, though. The old one had been fried extra-crispy.

"There was also that time when she first regained consciousness and pretended to be a harmless woman, doing a whole spiel about us violating her rights as an American citizen," Faith added. "I totally bought that, didn't you?"

"Harmless, right," Buffy said grimly. That witch had hurt both her Man-at-Arms and Zoar. The temptation to simply put the Sword of Grayskull to her neck and be done with it had been quite large. Well, at least she was helpless for the moment. The orb staff she had used to focus her magic was destroyed and Madison-Powers herself was bound with special chains that suppressed magic. She was not going anywhere for the moment.

And speaking of Zoar, Buffy was planning on having a few words with the guardian spirit of Grayskull. Twice now the falcon woman had invaded her head to warn her of impending danger, but otherwise kept herself hidden and incommunicado. Well, no more of that. Buffy had quite a few questions that needed answering. How come she could transform her wolfy pal Paladin using the power of Grayskull? Would it work for others as well? How exactly had Skeletor survived their first encounter? How had he become even more powerful? And what about fish men and weaponized zombies? The list was quite extensive by now and Zoar better have at least some answers. This working relationship was terribly one-sided at the moment.

Plus there was one other item which was very much at the top of her list. Xander and Willow had told her about their encounter with Jesse. Something was obviously wrong with that boy and both of her friends seemed convinced that it was something unnatural. Buffy herself hadn't seen the boy since he had gotten hurt at the hands of the Beast-Man (and hadn't really known him well beforehand), so for the moment she was willing to take their word for it. Sadly Jesse remained hard to find. Apparently his parents had reported him missing yesterday, after he hadn't come home the second day in a row.

She sighed. So much to do, not to mention school and somehow squeezing in some kind of private life as well. Not for the first time she cursed the day Merrick had first given her that damned sword. Well, nothing to it. First order of business was to check in at home. Her mom had gotten the week off after the craziness in the woods with the demon wolves and Buffy wanted to make sure she really was all right, or as all right as one could be after almost being eaten by demon wolves.

"Let me know if you get anything of importance from her," she said as she was leaving.

"Will do, my queen," Faith called after her. Buffy didn't react, knowing full well that Faith was only doing it to get a rise out of her. She hated being called that, though.

* * *

><p>Marlena was flipping through an old photo album, looking for a particular picture she was sure had to be in here somewhere. Ever since that night up in the Sierras she had tried to convince herself that she had just been seeing things, that the woman riding the giant wolf (and boy, she would really like to believe she had imagined that part as well) was not who she thought it was. It was impossible, of course, but for some reason she couldn't simply let it go, either.<p>

Flipping through the pictures, she found her thoughts wandering. God, so much time had passed. So much had changed. The woman in those pictures looked so different from the one she saw in the mirror these days. Not that she had been all wide-eyed optimism and laughter even then. She'd just returned from her stint in the Gulf, after all, and seen quite a few things she would have preferred not to have seen. She had known it was a hard, brutal world out there, but tragedy hadn't struck her on a personal level yet. That was still several months in the future at that point.

Then, finally, there was the picture she had been looking for. She could still remember the day it had been taken. She and Randolph had been married for... what, half a year at that point? They had met in the Gulf and tied the knot only a short time after returning stateside. Quite a few of her friends had told her she was rushing things, but she and Randolph had been so in love, so certain… Shaking those thoughts away, she focused on the picture again. It showed two women with their arms around each other standing in front of a café on a sunny day. Marlena Glenn-Summers, wearing a summer dress that almost managed to hide the slight swell of her belly and smiling brightly. And beside her the woman who had stepped into her life only a few days earlier, but had quickly become her best friend before vanishing again a few weeks later, never to be seen again.

Until a few nights ago.

"Adora," she whispered, her finger tracing the face of the woman. The face that hadn't changed one bit in seventeen years. "How is this possible?"

The sound of the door started her and she quickly put the photo album down. A moment later Buffy came into the living room, smiling at her.

"Hi mom! How are you feeling?"

She gave an exasperated sigh, pushing away the feelings of confusion and bitter remembrance. "Like I told you about a dozen times by now, Buffy, I am fine. If it were up to me I'd already be flying again."

Buffy gave her a stern look. "Now, mom, you know what the doctor said. You had a big shock-y thing and that means no flying for a week. Your boss said the same thing. So you just rest up and enjoy getting paid for vegging out on the couch!"

Sighing again, Marlena let herself drop back into the cushions. "Yes, ma'am! As you command, ma'am!"

She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard Buffy mumble something like "ma'am sounds no better than queen". What was that all about?

* * *

><p>"You sure this is going to work?" Willow asked.<p>

"It better, or I'm going to be very annoyed!" Buffy replied.

The two girls along with Xander were camped out on the grass just outside town and looking up at the majestic vista of the Sierra Nevada. Buffy had taken the Sword of Grayskull from her spine sheath and planted it into the ground before her. Paladin – or Mr. P as she liked to refer to him when he was in his natural body – was lying on his back beside her and was very busy getting his belly scratched. Willow and Xander had been a bit hesitant for a moment – one didn't live in this region one's entire life without being a bit weary of the local wildlife – but after getting her face licked Willow had quickly thawed toward the wolf and Xander hadn't been far behind.

For the last ten minutes Buffy had done her best to project her thoughts, both in the general direction of Castle Grayskull, as well as towards the town behind her, seeing as she still wasn't sure where the reclusive and occasionally falcon-shaped guardian spirit was hanging out. She had received no answer so far, though.

_ZOAR!_ she mentally shouted. _I swear, bird lady, if you make me hike all the way up to Castle Grayskull to find you, you're going to have one very cranky Champion on your hand! I want to talk to you and I'm not taking no for an answer! And not silence, either!_

"Maybe she's busy cleaning," Xander proposed jokingly. "You did say the Castle was pretty much a dump, right? Maybe she's embarrassed about getting visitors until she's got the place cleaned up."

Buffy just scowled and hoped her scowl transmitted across whatever mental link Zoar had formed with her. "I'm going to throw a party in the Castle if she doesn't show up soon. I'll book a heavy metal band, I'll put up signs saying 'this way to Despondos', I'll..."

The piercing cry of a falcon rang through the air and interrupted her list of things she could do in Castle Grayskull in order to annoy Zoar. A moment later she spotted the fiery shape of Zoar's falcon form as it came swooping down from the sky. The falcon opened its wings and flapped to stop its descent, coming to a halt just inches off the ground. Settling down, it gave her a rather annoyed glare, which was pretty impressive coming from a bird.

"About time," Buffy said. "Willow, Xander, Mr. P, that's Zoar. Zoar, this is the gang!"

_Champion, I can't say I approve of you dragging these children into..._

"I don't really care what you approve of right now," Buffy interrupted her. "And we're speaking out loud here, got it? Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate you playing the whole early warning system and letting me know when the evil guys are up to something around here. But that's not good enough. A couple of things happened and this Champion here needs more information if she's gonna do the Champion bit. So let's get on it, Zoar! Sharing power with Paladin, blue guy getting a reverse face lift, something wrong with Jesse. Take your pick, but start with something!"

For a moment the falcon just glared and she wondered what she could do if Zoar just decided to up and fly away. She held the bird's gaze, though, and did her best to look queen-ly. Finally the falcon lowered its head a bit and settled down into what she assumed was a more comfortable position for a bird.

_Very well, Champion. I do not know all the answers you seek, but I can tell you some of what you wish to know._

"Wow, did you hear her talking in your head, too?" Xander asked, gaping.

"That's so weird," Willow remarked. Mr. P just gave a growl for agreement.

_I put some effort into finding out more about the creature calling itself Skeletor. When we first met him before the gates of Castle Grayskull he was merely a man, I believe, though his blue skin tone leads me to believe that he counts at least one of the Gar race among his ancestors._

"What are the Gar?" Buffy asked.

_The Gar were a tribe of humans that, instead of joining King Grayskull in his quest to free Earth from Hordak, betrayed their own kind and sided with the Horde in return for power. It is said that their blue skin marks them as traitors and their blood carries the taint of the Horde as well. It was believed they had all died out eons ago, but apparently some survived._

"Great. But I assume they weren't all skull-faced, were they?"

The falcon shook its head, a human gesture that seemed very much out of place on a bird. _No. I believe that the injuries he suffered in his battle against you led him to perform some kind of dark ritual, preserving his life and boosting his power. I do not know the specifics, but by their very nature such rituals carry a heavy price, the loss of his human features probably being the least of it. If he wasn't already damned before, he certainly is now._

"So the guy's a lich now, right?" Xander said, snapping his fingers.

"A lich?" Buffy asked, clueless.

"Xander, this isn't a Dungeons and Dragons game," Willow admonished him. "You really are a nerd sometimes, you know?"

"Says the one who instantly knew what I was talking about," Xander shot back. "Anyway, a lich is someone who basically turns himself into an undead creature in order to achieve immortality. Like a zombie, but still smart and all and with the sorcery power to boot."

_An unorthodox, but fitting comparison,_ Zoar nodded. _As I said, I do not know the specifics, but Skeletor is now vastly more powerful than before. He has almost certainly forfeited his soul in the process, but that is of little practical use to us._

"So if he's undead, can he still be killed?" Buffy asked. "He certainly wasn't keen on being stabbed or beheaded in our last fight."

_There is very little the Sword of Grayskull cannot kill, Champion. But I doubt there are many other weapons capable of doing him harm._

Buffy sat back heavily, thinking. "Just great. Is this going to be a thing? Foes I think I defeated coming back more powerful? Because if so, it's a sucky thing!"  
>Be of heart, Champion. It seems that in return you have already gained a number of new allies as well. Especially your four-legged companion.<p>

Buffy looked over at Mr. P and reached over to scratch his neck again. "Yeah, about that. How did that work? I mean, I'm glad it did and all, but from what Giles said there is no previous record of a Champion ever managing to transfer part of the power to someone else."

Falcons didn't snort derisively, but Zoar certainly managed to give the impression.

_For all the valuable support work they do, the members of the Eternal Council don't know everything there is to know about Grayskull and his legacy. King Grayskull himself had a companion much like your wolf friend and a scattered few Champions throughout the ages have also shared the power with others. As to how exactly it works, I cannot tell you, but it is a fact that those Champions who did fight with such a companion by their side are among the greatest of their ilk._

Buffy sighed deeply, burying her hand deeper in Mr. P's fur. "Hear that, pal? We're destined for greatness. Lucky us, eh?"

Willow saw her chance to get a question in. "And what about Jesse? He's been acting really weird and Xander figures he's gotten a really fast super-growth-spurt and he has bigger teeth and a way deeper voice and he's all 'grrrrr' and 'leave me alone' to his best friends. Something must be going on with him."

Zoar seemed to consider her words. _I am uncertain, Ms. Rosenberg. It is possible that Mr. McNally is under the influence of some dark force, but I will need to see him myself in order to learn more. Do you have any idea where he is right now?_

* * *

><p>"This isn't really getting us anywhere, is it?" Faith asked, leaning back in her chair. "I mean, I have learned some impressive new curse words, granted, but apart from that...?"<p>

Giles nodded. "It seems mere verbal persuasion will not gain us any information from Mrs. Madison-Powers."

"Time to get out the thumb screws?" Faith asked, perking up.

"Please tell me you don't actually have thumb screws, Captain Lehane!"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She wiggled her eye brows. "But I was actually thinking about letting Ampata take a crack. She... knows some tricks."

Giles looked down, stretching his aching muscles. "I am... not comfortable taking such a course of action quite yet. We will wait until Buffy returns. She was hoping to get answers from the guardian spirit of Castle Grayskull. Let us wait to see what she has learned, then we shall determine whether more extreme measures are necessary in regard with Mrs. Madison-Powers."

Faith understood Giles' reluctance. Despite her words, she was not a big fan of torture, either. But basically passing the buck to Buffy... it didn't sit well with her, either. The poor girl had enough riding on her shoulders, which was one of the reasons Faith had taken it upon herself to rib her a lot. Hopefully it was going to help her keep her feet on the ground while still carrying her burden. Elders, all of this had sounded so much easier when she had been back in Guard training.

"I'm going for a walk," she finally announced, rising from her chair. "Getting stir crazy in here."

"Keep an eye out," Giles told her. "While our foe has so far shown little regard for the fate of his underlings, he might change his mind when it comes to a powerful sorcerers like our guest here."

"Will do!"

Exiting the back rooms of Point Dread, she stepped out into the club proper. It was late in the afternoon and except for a few people getting a drink the place was almost empty. Wouldn't fill up until after sundown and even then it would probably remain rather civil, this being a week night and all. Faith figured it a good thing that the Eternal Council hadn't bought this place for the revenue. She didn't really understand how the previous owner had managed to make a profit with this thing. What did she know about running a business, though?

As she walked through the club, though, one person caught her eye. He was big, at least six foot six, and had the bulk to match. His face looked more like that of an adolescent, though. And the way he moved made it look like he was unaccustomed to his own body mass. Also, there was just something... wrong about him. Faith wasn't sure what it was, but the guy looked like bad news.

She slowly made her way over, keeping an eye on him. The guy was sitting down at the bar and the bar stool actually seemed to bend under him. Okay, that wasn't really normal, either. Something very fishy was going on here. Making sure she had her gun and her sword within reach under her jacket, she slowly walked closer.

"Give me a drink," the guy growled, actually growled.

"Eh, look pal," the bartender said, looking somewhat spooked. "I'm gonna need to see some ID here or..."

Moving pretty fast for someone with his bulk the guy reached out and snatched the bartender by the front of his shirt. A moment later they were face to face.

"Said I need a drink," another growl, sounding even more menacing than before.

"Do we have a problem here?" Faith asked, walking up to them as casually as she could manage. Her hand was already on the grip of her gun.

"Nothing but problems," the guy turned to look at her. Yep, his teeth didn't look that normal, either. "Need a drink, quiet down the voices!"

Voices? Okay, this sounded really bad. "Okay, buddy. How about you calm down a bit, I'll buy you a drink and then we can..."

He jumped from the stool, shoving the bartender away hard enough to send him flying. He advanced on Faith and... was he getting even bigger? This was not good. Also, had he been this hairy a minute ago?

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? Stupid bint, think I can with all this noise in my head? Howling, barking, growling, all in my head. I can't stop it. It's driving me bonkers, and you're telling me to CALM DOWN!?"

Yes, he was indeed getting bigger. And hairier. And the teeth were getting longer as well. Something seriously bad was happening to this guy and from the sounds of it he was a victim of something out of his control.

"I can help you, buddy," she said, inching back and hitting the panic button on the cell phone in her pocket. "Obviously something really bad is happening to you. We can help if you let us."

He crouched down, slouching like a big ape, and his face was rapidly being covered in orange fur. His clothes were ripping, too small for his bulk, and his fingers elongated into claws. Faith had always been a fan of the Hulk, so she wouldn't have been surprised if the guy had suddenly shouted something like "SMASH!", but the only thing coming out of his mouth was a big growl.

Followed immediately by a big leap toward her, clawed hands outstretched to rip her to shreds.

Somewhere else in town the creature now only known as Skeletor looked up from his work and stared off into the distance for a moment. A moment later he chuckled and the crimson glow in his eye sockets seemed to intensify.

"Ah, it seems an old friend will be returning to the fold soon."

The human beside him, busily reattaching a severed arm to a huge, hulking zombie with a mechanized lower jaw, looked over at him.

"What are you talking about, boss? Who is coming back?"

Skeletor merely laughed. "There must always be... a Beast-Man!"

End Chapter 11


	13. Curse of the Beast-Man

Buffy Summers, Champion of Grayskull  
>Episode 12: Curse of the Beast-Man<p>

See chapter 1 for disclaimer!

_Note: Did I mention I hate writing fight scenes?_

* * *

><p>Faith was saved from immediate evisceration by a combination of highly trained reflexes and the fact that her opponent was clearly unused to his newly-changed body, jumping too high and too far. As she ducked he passed right over her with quite a few inches to spare and crashed into a table that was thankfully unoccupied.<p>

"Everybody out!" Faith yelled, never taking her eyes off the orange-furred brute, yet acutely aware that there were a few civilians within striking distance. Thankfully the place was far from packed, but it wasn't empty, either. Thankfully she could hear quite a few feet running towards the doors, so it seemed that at least some people had a minimum amount of intelligence around here.

The brute was back on his feet and turned to face her once again, clearly beyond reason and bellowing with rage. Still, he had been what had looked like a teenaged boy just a minute ago and from what little he had said she doubted the whole turning-into-a-monster thing had been his idea. So just shooting him in the head was out (assuming bullets would even work on that thing), she needed a better plan.

The brute growled and leaped at her again, this time doing a far better job than the first time. She was farther away and ready this time, though, so she easily dodged the assault and twisted around quickly enough to give the thing a good kick to its butt, sending him tumbling forward and into the bar counter. His head met the wood with thundering force, but the wood came off worse.

"Captain," someone yelled. It was Riley, who had obviously heard the ruckus from the back rooms, but she didn't dare take her eyes off the brute for a moment.

"Get out the tranq rifles," she yelled back. "He might not look it, but that's a teenage boy over there!"

"On my way," he just said, running to carry out his orders. Finn might be a bit of a by-the-book type and too rigid for her taste now and then, but there were few people she trusted more to have her back and do what needed doing.

"Oh bloody hell," she heard Giles' voice from behind her even as the brute broke free of the wreckage of the bar counter. "That's the Beast-Man creature that attacked the school."

Faith frowned. "Didn't Queen B behead that sucker before we got her? Besides, this guy here was a more or less normal looking boy until two minutes ago."

She could almost hear Giles thinking. One didn't become Man-at-Arms on martial prowess alone. The role was equal parts warrior, trainer, and advisor, meaning one had to know all sorts of stuff about the seedy supernatural underbelly of the world as well.

"The Beast-Man was killed, yes," Giles said, coming up beside her with his mace in hand. "But there have been reports about him going back over a hundred years. Maybe it's not so much a long-lived Horde-breed but rather something that seeks out a new host when the old one is killed."

Faith gulped at the obvious implication. This thing before them had been a teenage boy. So if Giles was right then the creature Buffy had killed might also have been an innocent. She didn't know Buffy all that well yet, but she was rather sure that this was not a revelation that would sit easy with their young queen. They would have to cross that bridge when they came to it.

First, though, they had to survive this.

The creature came at them again, slower and more methodical this time. Faith wasn't sure how much of the boy she had briefly spoken to earlier remained, but the Beast-Man clearly wasn't operating purely on animal instinct anymore. His eyes flickered back and forth between the two people facing him, briefly focused on the mace in Giles' hands, then rushed toward him, apparently seeing him as the greater threat.

Giles brought his mace up to swat aside the creature's claws and guide its rush past him. Faith had her gun out and took aim at the Beast-Man's leg, hoping to shoot it out from under him. Her aim was true and the bullet did penetrate, but seemed to do little actual damage. The wound didn't bleed much and when the Beast-Man pivoted around to face them again, he showed no sign of having trouble putting weight on his legs.

"Where is Riley with those damn tranquilizers?" she muttered, putting another two bullets into the same leg she had shot before, but with little better results. "Just once I'd like to face something I can just shoot and be done with it."

The Beast-Man seemed to grow stronger and faster by the second (and bigger, too) and when he rushed forward again both Giles and Faith were a fraction too slow. Giles took the brunt of the attack on his mace, but the force was so much that it was wrenched from his hands and went spinning off into a corner. He caught the brute's shoulder, too, and it sent him flying. Faith almost managed to evade a swipe from those monstrous claws. Almost being the operative word, as the padding of her jacket was sliced apart good and proper over her left arm. Thankfully the claws didn't reach skin, but the kinetic force was still enough to send her spinning.

Even as she fell she rolled, which was what saved her from the impact of a huge foot that shattered the floor boards where her head had been just moments ago. She was back on her feet and far too close to the Beast-Man a moment later, but before he could attack her once more there were a series of dull thuds and suddenly three big tranquilizer darts were sticking out of its giant neck. Riley had finally found the tranq rifles, it seemed.

The big guy hesitated and wavered on his feet for a bit, making Faith think for a second that they might be getting off easy here. Then he steadied, though, and yanked the three darts out of his neck with a contemptuous swipe of his claws.

"Figures," Faith just huffed.

* * *

><p>Catherin Evelyn Powers-Madison didn't like her current situation one bit. As a matter of fact that was pretty rapidly getting to be the default setting of her life, ever since their initial attack on Castle Grayskull had failed thanks to that Champion bitch. The attack on that dirty little collection of houses calling itself a town had been just another disaster as far as she was concerned. Getting captured by the Grayskull people hadn't been on her list of things to do.<p>

Sadly there wasn't a whole lot she could do right now. Those guards the Champion had with her clearly knew what they were doing. They had smashed her staff and they had bound her in magic-dampening chains. So far they had restricted themselves to questioning her, which had availed them nothing, but she wasn't about to bet that they wouldn't resort to more drastic measures soon.

The problem was, she didn't know whether she could count on a rescue. Keldor would have come for her, she was sure of it. Skeletor, though? She wasn't really certain yet how much of Keldor remained inside this... whatever he had become. In many ways he was the same. In others, though... not for the first time in recent days she wondered whether the promised pay-off was worth all this.

Her musings were interrupted by the unmistakable sounds of a scuffle taking place outside somewhere. Catherin didn't know exactly where she was. Somewhere in Eternia Springs, certainly, as even with her powers bound she could feel the background hum of the magic Keldor had bound to this land. Apart from that, though? No clue. Wherever she was, though, someone was clearly having some sort of throw-down just a room or two away. Was a rescue coming after all?

Well, she might as well assume she was about to be rescued, so she did the only thing she could right now. She gathered all of her concentration, slowly drawing in whatever ambient magic she could over the interference of the magical chains. The moment she was free, she would be ready, staff or no staff.

* * *

><p>Faith was still trying to figure out a way to handle this crisis without resorting to killing what might well be an innocent when she heard an unmistakable sound from right outside. There was the rumble of thunder and she could just about hear a female voice shouting a familiar sentence.<p>

"Okay, you're in trouble now, big boy," she told the Beast-Man, who was advancing toward her and Giles once again.

The Beast-Man grunted, making it sound like a question, right before a white-and-gold shape blurred through the open doors of Point Dread and barreled into him like a steam train. The orange-furred brute went flying and crashed into the wall behind the bar counter, leaving a good-sized hole. It wasn't enough to knock him out, though, as he was quickly back on his feet.

"Hey, didn't I kill you already?" Salvadora asked, having come to a stop next to Faith.

Faith opened her mouth to tell her about Giles' theory and the Beast-Man having been a boy a minute ago, but she didn't get the chance. The Beast-Man had apparently decided that just rushing in all the time wasn't cutting it and grabbed the remnants of the bar counter. Faith quickly dove to the floor to avoid having her head taken off by flying furniture. From the corner of her eye she saw Salvadora hadn't bothered to duck, she just punched the flying bar counter and tore it into splinters.

Before the wooden pieces had even begun to fall down, she was moving again. Faith had seen her fight in Orange Cove, but she had been busy with her own battle and hadn't really managed to pay much attention. She had known the Champion of Grayskull was fast, but hot damn, this was fast!

The Beast-Man was no slouch either and the two supernaturally strong warriors collided in a flurry of kicks and punches. Salvadora was clearly both stronger and faster, but the Beast-Man was bigger, had longer reach, and clearly had no qualms about taking three hits if he could just get in one.

Faith was back on her feet and trying to figure out what to do. The fight was getting more furious by the second. The worst thing she could do right now was distract Salvadora and risk getting her hurt, but the Champion needed to know that this was not a Horde-bred beast she was facing, but rather a cursed boy. Preferably before she skewered him with her sword or broke his neck.

She quickly made eye contact with Giles, who was obviously thinking the same thing. Faith drew her sword, Giles had recovered his mace, and when an opening finally appeared, they both stormed in. The Beast-Man was just rocking back from a thunderous kick he had taken to his sternum, so there was about a meter to spare between the two combatants. Giles dove in, mace and shoulder first, driving the Beast-Man further back. Faith followed in low, swiping her sword across the brute's biceps. She opened up a deep gash which started bleeding, though only a little. Non-fatal, but hopefully something that would slow the beast down.

"I had him," Salvadora said, moving forward to follow up. "There was no need..."

"That isn't the Beast-Man you faced before," Giles began. "He is..."

A thunderous crash interrupted the Man-at-Arms and all eyes flashed over to the entrance, which was about twice as big now as before. This was due to the huge figure that came crashing in. Faith immediately recognized him as that weaponized zombie thing they had also fought in Orange Cove. Only this time instead of a big claw for one arm, it had something that looked very much like a machine gun. And he pointed it like a machine gun, too.

Yep, that was a machine gun.

Giles, Riley and Faith all dove for cover as the zombie liberally sprayed the inside of Point Dread with bullets. Thankfully all the civilians were out already, otherwise this would have been a blood bath. A moment later Riley returned fire, apparently having grabbed some real guns along with the tranq rifle earlier. Several bullets hit the zombie dead center in his head and chest, but it didn't seem to bother him in the slightest.

"Guy needs hacking to pieces," Faith yelled. "We need..."

A tremendous growl filled the room and a moment later Paladin was there, leaping onto the back of the zombie and tumbling him over. Monstrous wolf claws raked across the zombie's back and giant jaws closed around the arm with the machine gun, crushing it into splinters.

"Yeah, that works, too."

Faith looked up, seeing that Salvadora was back on the Beast-Man, while Paladin was chewing on the zombie. The whole place was a mess. The walls were shattered and... and everything was wide open. Anyone could be walking in right now and they wouldn't know.

"Riley, check on the prisoner," she yelled.

* * *

><p>Willow and Xander were keeping their distance from the battle ground Point Dread had become, watching from across the street. Xander was itching to run in and help, but restrained himself once again. So far the training Giles had promised him was little more than basic get-in-shape stuff, meaning he still knew squat about fighting. But damn, it was difficult to just stand back and let others fight.<p>

They saw the metal-jawed zombie arrive, but couldn't do anything to warn the people inside before it busted through the doors and started firing at everyone and everything inside. Both breathed a sigh of relief when somebody inside returned fire and felt even better when Paladin tackled the zombie to the ground.

"They'll be fine, right?" Willow asked, holding on to Xander's arm. "They'll win and be fine, right?"

"Buffy will kick their asses," Xander assured her, but then gasped in surprise. Through the shattered entrance he could see inside and saw the orange-furred brute Buffy had decapitated in the school yard. How was that possible? Did all the bad guys have some sort of get-out-of-death-free card?

"Isn't that...," Willow began.

"Yeah, it sure looks like that. But how…?"

"What's going on here, guys?"

The two teens looked to the side and were rather surprised to see a familiar boy running toward them.

"Jono?" Xander asked. "What are you doing here?"

The short, slightly pudgy boy stopped beside them, out of breath. "I was hanging out in Point Dread when... when... whatever is going on in there started. It was... it was like something out of a bad movie. I mean... there was Jesse and..."

"Jesse?" Xander was in front of him suddenly, grabbing him by the shoulders. "You saw Jesse? Where is he? We've been looking all over for him."

Jonathan looked at him, eyes wide, clearly frightened by what he had seen. "I... I've never seen anything like it, Xander. Jesse walked in, but he looked... he was bigger and, and hairier… and then he grabbed the bar tender and this woman walked up to him and... and he got really angry and grew even bigger and hairier and... I don't believe this!"

A cold feeling of dread settled in Xander's stomach as he listened to Jonathan's babbling. Jesse grew bigger and hairier? And now there was a big, hairy brute in there, looking just like the one who had scratched the hell out of Jesse. Looking just like the one Buffy had killed. And it seemed that Buffy was about to put on a repeat performance.

"Oh my God," Willow whispered and he just knew that she had come to the same conclusion as he had. "Jesse!"

Xander started running toward Point Dread.

* * *

><p>Riley Finn didn't like leaving his comrades to fight alone, but he had his orders. And Faith might well be right, this entire thing here could be yet another distraction, something their foe seemed to have a special fondness for. Losing their prisoner, their only source of intel on their foe, would not be a good thing, so he left the battle behind and stormed into the back rooms, rifle in hand.<p>

Turning a corner, he almost collided with a huge figure that smelled very much like fish.

"I hate it when Faith is right," he muttered, skidding to a stop and bringing up his rifle. The fish man he had faced in Orange Cove just a few days ago was every bit as big as he remembered him. He must have snuck in the back while the weaponized zombie was making a big mess up front.

"Human," the fish man gurgled, bringing up his own weapon, a big trident. For a brief moment Riley wondered whether it was all too predictable for a fish man to use a trident for a weapon, but then there was no more time to think. The fight was on.

* * *

><p>Salvadora was really getting tired of fighting guys that she had already taken down before. Was this going to be a thing? She flash-fried the blue dude, he came back skull-faced and even stronger. She decapitated the Beast-Man, he came back... well, not stronger, but just as strong and even more vicious, it seemed. She promised herself that, should Marzo come back as well, she'd quit this business for good.<p>

Even as she fought the resurrected orange-fur-dude, she was aware of what else was happening around her. Super-jaw zombie was back, but Paladin seemed to have him well in hand. Faith had sent Riley back to check on the prisoner, just in case. So far there were just two of Skeletor's henchmen, but more might turn up any second, not to mention skull-face himself. Which just meant she had to finish this quickly, preferably before the Beast-Man remembered he could just call a bunch of innocent animals to his aid.

She finally got the chance to do just that when she managed to land another kick, this time hitting the Beast-Man square on the chin. His eyes crossed, he tumbled, and hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. He was not unconscious – she remembered how hard it had been to knock him out – but he was defenseless for the moment.

Raising her sword, she figured that – seeing as decapitation hadn't worked – she would just drive the blade straight through his heart this time.

"Wait, milady," Giles suddenly yelled, coming up beside. "That isn't the Beast-Man you fought before. This is some innocent boy, who seems to have been cursed."

"G-man is right," someone else yelled. She briefly glanced to the side, seeing Xander in the shattered entrance doors. "That's Jesse! That thing is Jesse!"

For a moment Salvadora was frozen in indecision. The Champion part of her wanted to continue and put an end to this menace once and for all. A boy he might have been, but she could clearly sense the taint of the Horde about him now. Then there was the Buffy part of her, though, who screamed at her to stop, she couldn't just kill Will and Xander's best friend. What was she supposed to do?

The choice was taken from her. The Beast-Man had used her indecision to recover, a monstrous fist lashed out with inhuman force and hit her in the stomach with enough force to snap a normal human being in half. The same spot where she had been stabbed by Skeletor only a few days ago. The wound had almost healed, but just almost. She gasped, folding in on herself, the sword tumbling from her fingers.

The Beast-Man didn't let up and grabbed her by the throat with both his hands, wrenching her off her feet in a single motion. She gagged, all the air already driven from her body by the initial hit, now completely unable to get more. Even the Champion of Grayskull needed to breathe in order to function. She grabbed the Beast-Man's forearms, tried to wrench his hands away, but there was no leverage for her to actually apply her superior strength. She kicked out, but the beast's arms were so long that she only managed to brush the tip of her boot across his torso, no more than that.

She heard more than saw Giles approach, trying to bring his recovered mace to bear, but the Beast-Man had her up between them like a shield. Thankfully he wasn't the only one, as Faith was also there and brought her sword down on the Beast-Man's arm with the all the strength a normal, unenhanced human could bring to bear. It wasn't nearly enough to cut off the arm, but the specially forged blade still cut deep.

The Beast-Man roared in pain and let go... briefly. A moment later Salvadora found herself being used as a human club and painfully impacted with both Faith and Giles. All three of them tumbled to the floor in a heap of arms and legs and Salvadora greedily sucked in the air through her bruised neck, the only thing she found herself capable of doing for the moment.

The Beast-Man loomed over them, ready for the kill.

* * *

><p>Xander just knew he was going to die and everyone was going to say it was due to his own stupidity. Really, anyone with even an ounce of sanity ought to know better than to run up and put himself in front of a monstrous beast that had just trashed the super-strong Champion of Grayskull and two of her Guard. But Xander did just that.<p>

"Jesse!" he yelled, looking for any trace of his friend in that deformed, inhuman face. "Jesse, it's me, Xander! You know me! You don't want to do this, Jess! Please, remember who you are!"

The beast hesitated, staring at him in obvious confusion. Xander heard the people behind him slowly get back on their feet, but he didn't dare take his eyes off his friend. Jesse was still in there somewhere, he was certain of it. He couldn't just be… gone.

"We want to help you, Jesse," he continued. "Something happened to you, we know. Some... some curse or whatever. It's turned you into something you're not. We can help, Jesse! Please, let us help you!"

Xander almost had a heart-attack when he saw Willow move up beside him, also looking at Jesse. He wanted to tell her to run, to stay away and keep safe, but he didn't dare. She stood beside him and reached out a hand towards Jesse.

"Jesse, please! It's me, Willow! Your little tree, remember? We're your friends, Jesse! Please, just calm down and let us help you!"

The creature seemed torn. Its muscles tensed and relaxed, one second it seemed poised to attack, then to run, then it seemed as if it was trying to say something. Xander held his breath.

Then everything exploded.

* * *

><p>"It's about time," Catherine said, rubbing her aching wrists. "You left me here to rot long enough!"<p>

As a matter of fact she strongly suspected that this was not actually a rescue mission. Mer-Man had seemed rather surprised to see her here when his fight with the Grayskull Guardsman had carried them both into this room. Not as surprised as the Guardsman had been, of course, when she had clobbered him from behind. Given her tied-up state, it hadn't done more than distract him, but it had given the fish creature the opportunity to knock him face-first into the wall. Still, Mer-Man had acted quickly to shatter the chains that kept her prisoner, which was just about enough to put her in a good mood.

She briefly considered finishing the helpless Guardsman, who was very much unconscious from his impact with the wall, but as she didn't know the situation, it was better to depart post haste.

"Let's get out of here," she yelled at Mer-Man and quickly went ahead, snatching up the mace the Guardsman had lost. It wasn't her focusing staff, but at least she wasn't completely unarmed.

As she stepped through the corridor and into a larger area, she quickly realized three things. One, she was inside Point Dread, Eternia Springs' only place of night life. Two, the reason everyone was throwing down here seemed to be that the curse of Rqazz had found a new victim. And three, everyone was currently looking at said victim, apparently trying to calm him down. Which left them wide open.

She had gathered quite a bit of power into herself even before the chains fell and now that she was once again free, she had gathered even more. She knew, though, that without her staff or another focusing object she wouldn't be able to do any precision casting. But there was one thing she could do.

Unleash all the power in one hell of a big bang.

* * *

><p>Salvadora found herself on the floor again with no clear idea how she had gotten there. The spots slowly cleared from before her eyes. Her throat and belly still hurt like crazy, but she pushed the pain away and quickly climbed back to her feet, her hand finding her sword without any conscious effort.<p>

Point Dread was a mess. There were shattered tables and chairs everywhere, the bar counter was pretty much gone, and the walls were liberally peppered with holes. A big area of the floor was scorched black from the explosion that had taken them all off their feet. She quickly spotted Faith and Giles, who were still looking pretty out of it, and Willow and Xander were there as well, unmoving but – she quickly checked – breathing.

That was it, though. It looked like the bad guys were gone.

End Episode XII


End file.
